Ariadne's Memories
by AngeloftheMorning1978
Summary: Inception/The Vow WARNING! EROTICA! After a car accident, Ariadne no longer remembers her life with Arthur. Takes place after "Arthur's Other Woman", "The Family Man", and "Arthur's Daughter". Apart of my "Little Family" series.
1. Chapter 1

**Inception/The Vow**

**After a car accident, Ariadne no longer remembers her life with Arthur. Takes place after "Arthur's Other Woman", "The Family Man", and "Arthur's Daughter". Apart of my "Little Family" series. **

**Ariadne's Memories**

_~ Thirteen Years Ago ~_

1.

~ Ariadne wasn't used to drinking. She had wanted to have fun after her first semester of art school and her new friends, Sadie and John, had taken her out to a local club. She had stayed out late, drank way too much and had to be taken home in cab.

She knew she probably wouldn't ever drink again. It was a hard lesson learned with Sadie holding back her hair as she wretched in the upstairs bathroom. Her adoptive mother, Victoria, disappointed in her, her adoptive father, Hugo, angry.

"You're grandparents are mad." Sadie whispered. "You're young, you're supposed to act stupid, yes?"

"They are _not _my grandparents." Ariadne said as she wretched again.

She felt much better after vomiting and wanted to lay down on the floor of bathroom. When she laid down, at least her head stopped spinning.

Victoria asked Sadie to leave, the leggy, spider girl apologized and she and John hurried out.

"Ariadne, I don't know what to think about you anymore. You used to be such a good girl." the older woman cried.

"_Mother_, just... leave me alone." Ariadne whispered as she curled into a ball. She wanted to go to sleep; wanted to block out how kind Victoria and Hugo were to her. Lately, she had been pushing her adoptive parents away more and more.

She could no longer be the sweet daughter they had wanted her to be when they took her out of that group home in America.  
"Ariadne, we love you, but we don't love your choices. You have such potential in school. You need to focus on your studies and stop hanging around your friends. I don't like that Sadie girl; she is nothing but trouble. She dresses like a prostitute." Victoria's hand went to her mouth and she tried not to cry.

"Sadie is my friend. I'm not blowing her off, Mother." Ariadne groaned as she felt ready to pass out.

"Ariadne." Victoria said. "We just... we don't' want you to lose yourself. Alright? Just don't lose yourself."

_~ Thirteen Years Later ~_

"I'm not going to lose myself, Mother." Ariadne sighed as her head felt heavy. "Why would you think that?"

"Oh, Thank God!" a man's voice drifted to her. She didn't recognize his voice, but he sounded relived.

She could feel hands on her then. A large hand taking hers and giving it a squeeze.  
"Ariadne?" the man said. "Open your eyes."

She didn't recognize the voice. Didn't understand it right away.

"Open your eyes right now." the voice commanded.

'_He's so bossy! He's going to keep bugging you till you do it. Might as well._' She thought bitterly. Her adoptive parents must have called an ambulance or something. It was just like them. They worried over her so much it was annoying.

She opened her eyes and blinked at the brightness.

"She's awake?" came a familiar woman's voice in a heavy French accent.  
"Sadie?" Ariadne croaked.

"Oh, she is awake!" Sadie shirked and Ariadne felt her new friend kiss her cheek. "We were all so worried about you, stupid!"

Ariadne focused on her friend.

She looked drastically different. Not in the normal, blond hair one day, black hair the next. Sadie didn't look like Sadie anymore.

Gone were the neon fish net stockings, the violent purple mini skirt she just bought. The pink high heels and the heavy false eye lashes. Sadie now looked like she had just stepped out of a fashion magazine. Complete with Channel jewelery and a stylish hair cut.

"Sadie? Is that you?" Ariadne asked as her head hurt.

"Of course it's me." Sadie laughed. "You must have hit your head harder then you thought."

Ariadne looked around her. Her vision still not working right. She saw a man, her doctor most likely, in a well tailored suit. She ignored him and focused on her friend.

"Sadie, what happened? Did Mother and Dad call an ambulance?" she asked.

Sadie looked surprised. Her face, free of harsh make-up showed total shock.

"Your parents?" she repeated.

"Look, I'm fine. Tell mother I'm fine. They worry too much. I did really well in class this term, and we were just blowing off steam." Ariadne said sitting up in bed.

"Ariadne?" the man in the nice suit asked.

She looked at this man. He was handsome, but he glared harshly at her.

"Look, doctor, I don't know what my parents told you, but I'm alright." Ariadne told him. "I'm nineteen years old; I'm an adult. My friend John and I were talking about getting an apartment together." Ariadne said feeling so angry at her adoptive mother just now.  
"Ariadne, it's me..." the man said coming closer to her.

"If I want to go out with my friends, I can." Ariadne insisted.

"Ariadne, don't you know who he is?" Sadie asked suddenly.

Ariadne looked at her friend. Not only was her make-up and style different, her face looked different to. It was like Sadie was a grown up.

"He's my doctor." Ariadne whispered.

"No, darling." Sadie said. "No, this is Arthur. He's your husband."

~ "_Amnesia_?" Cobb repeated as he scowled at the Architect sitting in her wheelchair. Sadie hadn't left her side and and was talking to her; the three men just outside her hospital room.

Arthur shook his head.  
"She thinks she's nineteen years old again." the Point Man grumbled.

"She doesn't know you?" Eames asked in shock. "Doesn't remember you at all?"

"No." Arthur said sadly. "She remembers Sadie, but that's about it. Oh, and she thinks her grandparents, Victoria and Hugo are still alive. Even her accent is different."

"Oh dear." Cobb sighed.  
"How could this have happened?" Arthur fumed.

"The car accident, the coma that followed. Who knows?" Eames said as the three men watched Ariadne and Sadie.

"Could have been a result of the compound? Some sort of long term use?" Cobb whispered.  
"Nothing like this has ever happened in dream extraction." Arthur hissed.

"First time for everything." Eames said sadly.

~ "Sadie, whatever joke you're playing, you can just stop it." Ariadne snapped at her friend. Her head hurt and she wanted her clothes back. She would move out of her parents home today and not even call them.

"Ariadne, it's not a joke." Sadie said calmly. "You were in a car accident. You've been asleep for two days now."

The Architect shook her head.

"Telling me I'm married to that old man. What is he? Like, Forty years old?" Ariadne huffed.

"Arthur just turned thirty eight." Sadie told her.

"Old." Ariadne laughed. "And look at you." she said eying Sadie's new look. "You have a court date or something?"

Sadie smiled and sat up a little straighter.

"Tell me, what is the last thing you remember?" Sadie asked.

Ariadne sighed and had to think about it.

"We... we went out to a club and we went dancing. It was the end of our first term so we were having some fun. John and I were talking about getting a place. He had just broke up with his boyfriend and... I drank too much. I got sick in the street, in the cab and then at home. Mother was mad at me." Ariadne laughed.

"Our _first_ term at art school?" Sadie asked. "When we first meet?"

"Yeah." Ariadne said.

"Ariadne, that was over thirteen years ago." Sadie told her.

Ariadne looked at the leggy spider woman like she was waiting for the punch line.

"Sadie... don't be stupid." Ariadne told her friend.  
"I'm serious."

"I need to go home. I'm telling mother and dad that I'm moving out. I'm so sick of them." Ariadne fumed as she slowly stood up. Her whole body hurt and she tried to keep her balance.

"Ariadne, don't say anything else about Victoria and Hugo." Sadie warned.

"Why not? I'm I grounded or something? Oh, I would love to hear them tell me I'm grounded. I'm nineteen years old, I'm an adult." Ariadne said hotly.

"You're not nineteen; you're thirty two." Sadie said sharply.

Ariadne turned and looked at her friend.  
Sadie took a deep breath.

"You're thirty two years old. That man, Arthur, is your husband. If you go home, Victoria and Hugo won't be they because they died in a house fire. A long time ago now." Sadie said breathlessly.

"That's not funny, Sadie. This isn't a funny joke; just stop it." Ariadne insisted.

"It's not a joke." Sadie told her.

"What's with your accent? You're English is so much better all of the sudden." Ariadne snapped at her friend.

"Ariadne." Sadie said trying to catch her hands. "Go look at yourself in the mirror."

The leggy Spider woman nodded to the bathroom and Ariadne, not sure of what to do next, wandered into the mirror.

It was like a bad dream. Ariadne didn't recognize this woman in her reflection. Her dark hair was longer and expensively cut. Her face was the same, yet, not as rounded and babyish as it normally looked.

"I..." Ariadne said as she examined her own reflection. "I look like... I look like someone's mom." She decided.

Sadie bit her lip. Not really sure how to explain that.  
"I want to go home." Ariadne said at last.

"I'll have Arthur bring the car around." Sadie said with a sigh of relief.

"No. I don't know him!" Ariadne shouted. "I want to go home. My home! NOW!"


	2. Chapter 2

2.

~ Arthur let out a sigh as he played personal driver to the two women in the back seat.

He hated how he had to trust Sadie so much right now. Yet, Ariadne would only listen to her old friend.

The doctors released his wife with instructions to take her back home, that certain familiar sights and smells might jog her memory.

He wasn't sure how he would break the news about their children to a woman who had no memory of them. Fortunately, Darcy was at dance camp for the rest of the summer; she wasn't even told about the accident.

The boys and Drew were with Arthur's father, Albert, for a few days.

Ariadne insisted she be taken back to the house where Victoria and Hugo lived before the fire that killed them. The Architect not believing the Point Man and spider woman when they told her they were dead.

"I still can't get over the way you talk so differently, all of the sudden." Ariadne said as she pulled her long hair back into a pony tail. The Architect slouched in the back of the car; picking at her nails.

"It's like, I don't know, real twilight zone."

"Oh it's like totally twilight zone?" Sadie mocked.

Everything, from the way Ariadne talked, to her body language, was as if she was a teenager. If the doctors' and specialists were right, Ariadne thought she still was a freshman in college.

"Well, I've been around Eames. His French is awful. Not as bad as Arthur's, but I had to get better at English for work." Sadie explained.

"Eames? Who's that?" Ariadne asked.

"My husband." Sadie said with a sigh.

"Sadie! Your _married_?" Ariadne asked in shock. "When did this happen?"

"Last spring. You were my maid of honor." Sadie told her.  
"We were both at the wedding, Ariadne. Remember?" Arthur asked from the driver's seat.

Ariadne leaned into Sadie's ear and the two girls exchanged whispers.

"No, it's okay. He's okay." Sadie said.

"No. Sadie." Ariadne said softly.

Arthur bit his lip. He wanted to remind his wife of their marriage, their home, their work and most importantly, their children.

He caught Sadie in the rear-view mirror and the spider woman shook her head. Now wasn't the time to shock her.

~ "It happened about eleven years ago." Sadie explained as Ariadne looked at the modern shopping mall that was once an elegant row of town homes. "Gas explosion."

"Where..." Ariadne gasped as she tried to understand. "I don't know... Mother would have moved out... Dad would have..."

"They both died." Sadie told her. "You, John and I were out at a friends house when it happened."

Arthur waited by the car as his wife walked to the shopping center and then turned around.  
"Where are they buried?" Ariadne asked.  
"In America." Sadie explained. "You wanted to stay in France. A year after they died you met Arthur here. A few years later, you got married."

Arthur straitened up as Sadie nodded to him. He half hoped his wife would come running into his arms in tears. Her memories back for good.

"I want to go home." Ariadne said.

"That's fine, we can go home." Arthur said in delight.  
"I'm not going anywhere with you." the Architect snapped.  
"You live with him. You've been married almost six years." Sadie told her.  
"I told you, I don't know him!" Ariadne snapped. "How many times do I have to say it?"

"Okay." Arthur said curtly as he stood a little straighter. "Why don't we go back to our home and I can show you some photo albums and that might help you remember. Sadie will be with you the whole time." Arthur offered at last.

~ Ariadne had to think about it. There was no sane reason to say no. She had no where else to go. Her home was gone, her adoptive mother and father were dead. She was being told by some strange man that he was her husband. It was like a nightmare.

Some long, awful nightmare where she couldn't wake up.

~ This Arthur person drove them to a quite, beautiful neighborhood in a well to do part of the city.  
"You live _here_?" Ariadne asked as she rubbed the back of her head. She could feel the stitches on the back of her skull form the accident she had no memory of. Her eyes looking over the beautiful building she never expected to live in.

"No, _we_ live here." Arthur said gently.

~ The Point Man drove them into the underground park garage and took them up in the resident's only elevator.

He suddenly remembered Ariadne's birthday a few years after they got married. How he couldn't wait to get home so he could ravish the seductress that was his wife. Her make-up, her little black dress. How they had behaved at dinner.

Arthur felt himself blush as the heated memory made his blood quicken. Ariadne was in no condition to be reminded of that.

"We're, here." Arthur said as they arrived on their floor.

"You have a really nice home." Ariadne said as she looked around the great room.

Arthur sighed as there was not a hint of recognition in the way she examined their home.

"Let me show you our wedding album." Arthur coaxed as Sadie held back. The leggy spider woman sitting lazily on the sofa.

~ Ariadne was admiring the view outside the balcony when Arthur brought her the heavy, professionally bound photo album.

She looked carefully over each picture. Surprised to see herself as a blushing bride in a beautiful white dress.

"I look really nice." she admitted.

She laughed at the pictures of Sadie as her maid of honor. Her best friend was so much taller then the bride, Ariadne had to stand on the top part of three stairs just so they wouldn't look off center.

She looked at the pictures of her groom. This stranger, this Arthur person, looked elegant and incredibly handsome in his tuxedo. She blushed at the idea of marrying such a man like him. Of what their wedding night and honeymoon must have been like.

She closed her eyes as a wave of butterflies hit her stomach. She had no experience with men and the whole idea made her nervous.

She slammed the photo album shut and handed it back to Arthur.

"You remember anything about our getting married?" Arthur asked hopefully.  
"No." Ariadne said shaking her head. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright, I'm sure it will come back to you soon." he said.

She said nothing as she admired the view they had from the balcony.

"How long have we lived here?" she asked.

"Just before was got engaged." Arthur said. "Which reminds me, I held on to your jewelery for you while you were in the hospital."

He fished in his pocket and retrieved a blue sapphire ring and a silver bangle bracelet.

"These are mine?" Ariadne asked as she felt the unusually heavy bracelet and apprised the stunning blue stone.

"This was your engagement ring, sweetheart." Arthur told her kindly. He slipped the large blue stone on her ring finger, then kissed her hand.

Ariadne felt her cheeks grow warm.

~ "I gave you that bracelet, after..." Arthur suddenly felt shy. He had given Ariadne that bracelet after a night of particularly passionate lovemaking in his birthday. Before they were married, she had given him a very intimate gift and one which he enjoyed all night.

Ariadne looked at him innocently.

"I always dream of you?" she said reading the inside inscription.

Arthur laughed.

"Yes, it's a special meaning." he admitted.

"What kind of meaning?"

"It has to do with our work." he told her.

She shrugged.  
"What kind of work do we do? Are you an Architect or graphic designer?" She asked.

Arthur smiled.  
"Kind of a long story." he admitted.

"I think I have time." she said sulkily.

"Maybe in a few days. It's complicated." Arthur said as she pulled the silver bracelet on.

Ariadne shifted on her feet and looked out at the view again.  
"Um... Arthur? Is it? I don't remember any of this." she said at last; looking uncomfrotable. "I wish I did. You seem like a nice person."

"You will, I promise you will." Arhtur told her.  
"Kids!" Sadie broke into their conversation. "I'm leaving. I have to meet my stupid husband for dinner."

"Wait!" Ariadne almost shriked as the spider woman grabbed her handbag to leave. "You're going? I thought..." Ariadne tried to block Sadie's exit.

"I don't live here. _You _live here." Sadie told her as she fished in her bag for a gutted pack of nicotine gum.

"Sadie!" Ariadne hissed. "Please don't leave me alone with him!"

"Darling, I love you, but I am trying to quit smoking and not kill my idiot husband at the same time. The fact you don't remember being married to a handsome, rich, wonderful man who loves you is not what I'm concerned about. I would_ love_ to wake up married to Arthur." Sadie said as the Point Man pulled a face of disgust.

"Sadie." Ariadne started to say.  
"I'll be back tomorrow and we can hang out. You'll be fine. Arthur is a good man." Sadie said before stalking off.

"Wait!" Ariadne called out as she was left alone with Arthur.

** Saw "Lincoln" last night. Why I wasn't able to post. Very good movie, except the parts with JGL are too few. Bummer. **

**The movie really reminded me of the times, in America, we live in. Our entire country is at odds with each other. Talks about succession. Personally, as a Texan, I don't see that at all. It's a lot of BS. But it's comforting to know that civil unrest in America is nothing new. A lot of the civil war could be applied to politics right now. **

** It's very interesting. **

** OH! And I also so "Bronson" today. He was very good in it, but I really wish someone would have told me Tom Hardy had so much frontal male nudity. I think I was happier not knowing/seeing certain things. I like the mystery. I don't know. Call me a prude if you want. LOL. **


	3. Chapter 3

3.

~ Ariadne watched the leggy spider woman leave.

"Wow." She breathed out in frustration. "Some friend."

"I've been saying that for years." Arthur grumbled as he stepped closer to his wife. "Are you hungry?"

"Starved." Ariadne said as she looked over the richly furnished apartment.  
Her eyes finally resting on a heavily decorated fire place with a large mantel piece. On the mantel, were layers of framed photographs.

Arthur didn't stop his wife as her hands roamed over the pictures of him and his parents, pictures of Victoria and Hugo, Eames and Sadie, Cobb and his family. Finally, she pulled out a large photo of their children. Darcy, her blond hair growing back after her cancer treatment, was holding Drew. The boys, Dominic and Daniel were sitting on either side of their sisters. For once, looking angelic and sweet. Dressed in full on three piece suits meant to mimic Arthur.

"Is this you where you were little?" Ariadne asked as she pointed Dominic.

Arthur chuckled softly as he approached the fireplace. Dominic _did_ look like a younger version of Arthur. It was an understandable error.

"Ariadne, these are our children." he said carefully.

She laughed.

"I don't have children." She told him shaking her head. Obviously the whole notion was insane.

"This is Darcy." He said pointing to the oldest girl with blond curling hair. "She'll be eleven next month. She's at dance camp right now. Our boys, Dominic and Daniel are with my Dad. Drew is a year old already."

Ariadne was shaking her head as if it was Arthur who was confused.  
"Listen, I don't have any kids. If I did, I would remember them. I'm not a mom." She insisted.  
"I hope once you see them, you'll remember." Arthur said putting the picture back.

"You know, I can do the math." Ariadne snapped. "That girl, Darcy. You said we we've been married six years, how is she eleven? Plus,_ look at her_! She's got blond hair and light eyes. She doesn't look anything like you or me."

"Darcy is..." Arthur had to think of how to say it tactfully. "Well, she is sort of my half sister." he explained carefully.  
"Sort of?" Ariadne laughed.

"Yes."

She shook her head again.

"So, we take care of her?" Ariadne offered.  
"We can talk about it more. Let's have some lunch." Arthur said instead.

~ The Point Man carefully measured out grilled chicken, fresh baby spinach and wheat bread.

"You keep a log of everything you eat." He told her as he gave her a plate. "I'll show you on your computer later. It's for your nutritionist."

"I have a_ nutritionist_?" Ariadne asked as she wished she was eating pizza or one of the yummy pastries she would get every morning before school.

"Yes." Arthur told her as he made his own plate. "Once a month, you see her and you two plan meals and you show her what you eat."

"Why?" Ariadne asked.

Arthur looked uncomfortable.

"I mean, it seems kind of silly. I know how to eat healthy." She took a bite of the grilled chicken and looked at this stranger.

He avoided her gaze.  
"Do I have some kind of eating disorder?" She teased.

It was supposed to be a joke, but he turned to her looking sad and angry.

"That's what we're trying to prevent." he said bitterly.

Ariadne waited for him to go on, but he only ate his own lunch. His face darkening into an annoyed look.  
"What happened? Did I gain a lot of weight?" Ariadne asked as she looked down at her body. Everything seemed normal. Even after three, _alleged_, children. Her clothes weren't tight and she didn't see any obvious rolls of fat. She ran a hand over her waist to make sure, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.  
"After our son was born, you went on a crash diet. Sadie made you think I would cheat on you if you didn't lose the baby weight. You agreed to go to a nutritionist once a week during your pregnancies after that, and once a month after Drew was born. We keep a detailed account of what you eat, and there is no junk food in the house." he explained tersely.

"Well, was I fat?" Ariadne asked worriedly.

Arthur shook his head.  
"No, of course not." he snapped. "You had just had a baby. You passed out in the nursery from hunger. I was furious at you for not eating. And Sadie for putting that idea in your head."

"So, is that why you hate Sadie?" Ariadne asked.

"I don't hate her, I just wish she wasn't your friend or Eames' wife. Although, he does deserve her."

Ariadne laughed.  
"Sadie is kinda abusive to men. I wish I could be like that. She's always telling me all the crazy things she does with guys she meets." she said.

Arthur looked at his wife.  
"You really don't remember me? Our life? Our children?" he asked. His large hand moving over hers.

She moved away from him.

"I'm sorry... um..." she said.

"Arthur. My name is Arthur." he reminded her.

"Arthur. You seem really nice, but this is strange for me. One minute, I was living at home with my parents, going to college and having fun with my friends. Now, you tell me I'm in my mid thirties in this posh apartment with you and we have four kids together."

"I know it's a bit much." Arthur explained.

"Too much." Ariadne corrected as she stood and stepped away from him. "I keep expecting to wake up. I keep hoping this is just a crazy dream I'm having from staying out all night drinking."

Arthur laughed.

"What is it?" she asked. Feeling hurt.

"It's just, it's hard to imagine you as a party girl." he said standing up.

She stepped away from him again. Obviously intimidated by his height.

Arthur straitened his tie and tried not to look uncomfortable.

"Um... why don't you go and look over your things? That might help to jog your memory." he offered.  
"Where's my room?" she asked.

"_Our_ room, is right down the hall." he said as he pointed to a large door that lead to their spacious master suite.

Ariadne looked worriedly at the high ceilings and fine fixtures of their apartment. This surely could not be her home.

"When we first moved in, we had almost no furniture. We just had your bed and dresser. You said this place felt like a big, scary museum. We didn't like to leave our bedroom because the rest of the house was spooky at night." he laughed as he opened the doors to their room.

~ Ariadne fell in love with the sight of their bedroom. It was a sleek mixture of vintage and modern; expertly topped off with a chandelier. The large bed looked like it belonged to a glamorous movie star from the 50's. The bedding was a pinkish, champagne color and the wall paper was detailed and expensive looking.

"Of course, we redecorated." Arthur said as he observed her looking over the delicately carved vanity. A dizzying array of name brand cosmetics were on the table. "I'm not even sure where that old bed is now. I think I had it put into storage."

Ariadne wasn't listening. This couldn't be her life. It was too much. Not just the husband, the kids and apartment; but, _everything_. This life belonged to someone else entirely. Hugo and Victoria had provided well for her, but nothing close to Chanel lipstick and a Prada handbag casually tossed on the dresser.  
"You're bag was in the car during the accident. I brought it home with me." Arthur explained as she was afraid to touch the expensive leather.

A ringing noise went off and Arthur grumbled darkly. His face contorting into an angry scowl.

"Ariadne, I'm sorry, I'll be right back." he said as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID.

She nodded as he left her to explore.

No, this could not be real. This was like a fairy tale. A poor girl adopted by an honest, elderly couple. Then, she marries a real life prince charming. Arthur might as well be a prince. No Disney movie could have done better then him.

She looked over the magnificent bathroom and was tempted to start running a bath in the big, claw foot bathtub.

She wanted to experiment with the yummy smelling soaps and expensive perfumes.

As the hot water pumped out and started to fill the tub, something made her blood run cold.

She was here. Right here in this bathroom. She wasn't alone. Someone was there, was holding her under water, and screaming at her. Something about Arthur, and she was afraid. Ariadne was drowning, her lungs crying out for air. She knew she was going to die and she could do nothing about it as the figure held her under the bathwater.

Arthur, she knew it had to do with Arthur.

Ariadne jumped up and quickly shut off the running water with her sleeve over her hand. Suddenly afraid to touch the bath fixtures.

Suddenly afraid of everything.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

~ Ariadne looked over the neatly organized rows of clothing in the huge walk in closet. Closets like this in Paris were unheard of; even for the very rich. It was as big as a second bedroom, complete with handsomely built shelves and drawers. She looked over Arthur's suits. Each one carefully sorted and hung on wooden hangers to preserve their shape. His sock drawer was filled with neatly folded dress socks. His dress shirts and ties were organized and looked expensive and impressive. His shoes were shined to mirror perfection.

She saw almost no casual clothing and wondered if he only wore suits.

She ran a hand over a handsome red neck tie and wandered over to her side of the closet.

Her normal style of dress was always casual and comfortable. She had never been the kind of girl who cared about clothes or appearances, but it seemed like that had changed. Her clothing now all had designer labels and, although they looked carefree, the fabrics, stitching and feel of them was very high quality.

She breathed out in appreciation as her hands wandered over a beautiful red wrap.

She looked over her underwear drawer and puzzled briefly over a lacy black and white corset with matching panties.

'_When would I ever wear this?_' she wondered as she touched the silk cords lacing the corset together.

She tossed the corset back in the drawer and went to a large cabinet.

She gasped as the cabinet automatically lit up when opened. Highlighting an impressive display of jewelry.

'_Who's is all this?_' she thought as she tentatively touched a glittering diamond necklace.

"I gave that to you for your birthday; just after Dominic was born." came a voice.

Ariadne turned around and felt like she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

Arthur was standing in the closet with her. A grin on his face as he watched her.

She suddenly realized she liked the way he smiled. Perhaps because it was the first time he had smiled since she met him. His eyes crinkled pleasantly, and he looked almost boyish. Like he wanted to ask her out on a date, but was too shy to even talk to her.

She blushed and stepped away from the cabinet with it's impressive jewelry.

"I was just looking at them." she said lamely.

Arthur walked over to the cabinet.

"You don't get much of a chance to wear it." Arthur said as he picked up the diamond necklace and laced it over her neck. "With the kids and everything, it's hard for us to go out. You want Darcy to wear it on her wedding day."

The diamonds felt heavy and her skin was hot with embarrassment at the feel of what must be a very valuable piece of jewelry.

"Arthur, you don't have to." she protested feebly as his large hands clasped it closed.

He turned her around and made her look in the large mirror that separated his side of the closet from hers.

She couldn't help but marvel at her own refection.

Who was this person looking back at her?

She didn't ever recognize the woman in the mirror. Her face that was no longer cherub like. Her hair was no longer lank and hopeless. Ariadne marveled at this woman as her hand went nervously to the diamonds. Her face was thinner, but it looked nice. Her hair was shiny and longer then she normally wore it. She looked... good. Like she had control of her life and had confidence.

Arthur was standing behind her. His hands wrapping carefully around her waist.

She sucked in her breath at the image of them together. He was so handsome and dashing in his suit. This home, this world he provided for her... it was too good to be true.

"I was so worried about you; after the car accident." Arthur whispered in her ear.

She felt a rush of giddy happiness at the contact of his warm breath on her sensitive skin.

She wasn't used to men touching her. She hadn't really dated and his nearness, her attraction to him, made her nervous.

She pulled away from him, her heart racing as he refused to let go of her hand.

Her hand held the diamond necklace on her neck as he clasped her other hand safely in his.

Arthur was looking at her helplessly. His face almost begging for her to stay close to him.

"The car accident." she said softly.

Arthur nodded.  
"Um, how did it happen? Were the kids... I mean, were they in the car?" she asked.

"No." he said. "You were driving home from the airport and you were hit by another car."

"Was anyone else hurt?" she asked.  
"No." he assured her.

Arthur looked her over as she tried hard to remember a car crash.

"Seeing you in the hospital like that. I didn't know what to do. All I could think about was life without you. I couldn't stand it." he admitted.

She shifted on her feet.

"I'm sorry I worried you." she said for lack of anything else to say.

Arthur let out a relived laugh.

"It's not your fault." he said as he tried to pull her closer to him.

"Don't." she said sharply as she put her hands up to block him.

Arthur looked stunned.  
"Ariadne, I'm your husband." he said softly. His voice pleading and hurt.

"That's what you keep saying, but I still don't know you." she explained. Her hands went to the necklace. The diamonds felt too heavy.

"Can you... can you take this off? Please?" she asked.

She suddenly didn't want to wear this necklace anymore. It belonged to a woman she didn't know.

Arthur's large hands were at her neck and he nimbly slipped it off her.

She found she liked his hands. They were strong and capable, yet gentle.

She watched as he put the necklace back in the cabinet. She looked over the collection jewelry. All of them looked authentic and a few even custom made. Nothing was costume jewelry or cheap.

"Is all of this mine?" she asked.

"Yes. Although I think you want Darcy and Drew to have a few pieces when they get old enough." he explained.

She nodded.

"You gave me all of them?" she asked.

"Yes." he said.

She looked over a rich, pearl necklace.  
"I got that for you on our second honeymoon. We went to Rome and then Greece." he explained.

"Must have been fun." she concluded. Thinking only of sight seeing and nothing more.

Arthur gave her that smile she liked. His eyes crinkling as he looked embarrassed.  
"Yes, we had fun." he admitted. "We were helping Sadie do research on a book she was working on."

Ariadne studied him for a long time; not catching his meaning.  
"What is it you do? I mean, for a living?" she asked.

She suddenly wondered about what it was he did to afford this apartment and all these nice things.  
Arthur looked uncomfortable.  
"Well, before we married, we both worked for our mutual friend. Dominic Cobb." he told her at last. "You, Mr. Eames and I worked in information retrieval for large companies."

"That doesn't sound like something I would be interested it. I'm an art major. I wanted to study Architecture." she told him.  
"You did. You also work in graphic designs for a video game company." Arthur told her. "You just... you sort of fell into this work with Cobb and I after your parents died."

Ariadne blinked at the idea her adoptive parents were dead. She still half expected to go home to be with them.

"So, is that how we afford all this? We must be good at what we do." she said as she looked over her expensive shoe boxes.

"We are the best at what we do." Arthur assured her. "Most of our money now came to us after my father died."

"I thought you said your father was watching the kids." Ariadne corrected him.

Arthur looked uncomfortable.

"He is. I mean, _Albert_ is my real father, _John_ is Darcy's father and..." Arthur tried to explain, but soon gave up. "It's complicated. We recently found out John, the man who I thought was my dad, wasn't really my father. My mother had an affair and I just met my real dad this past year."

"Wow." Ariadne said. "Crazy family secrets."

"Well, we all have our family secrets, don't we?" Arthur said knowingly.

Ariadne shrugged. She didn't know what he meant.

"Dominic Cobb." she said softly. "Our son's name is Dominic."

"Yes. We named him after our friend Cobb. Mr. Eames was annoyed, but that's okay." Arthur said with that smile returning to him.

Before she could stop him, his large hands were on her waist again. Pulling her into him.

She couldn't help but breath in the smell of him. His natural pheromones enticing her and comforting her.  
"I just... I want to hold you for a little while." he explained.

She didn't resist, didn't want to. She normally didn't like men to touch her intimately. Ugly images of her past that stayed buried most of the time roused awake whenever she felt a man touch her like this.

Yet, Arthur was different. He made her feel safe. Like he was a protector, not just boy who couldn't keep his hands to himself.

"Ariadne." he breathed. "I'm so glad you're alright."

"I'm_ not _okay." She whispered back as he nuzzled her ear. Her legs growing weak. "I still don't remember."

"Kiss me." he was panting as his hands roamed up to her hair. Pulling her face up.

She didn't resist as his soft lips touched hers. Gently caressing hers and then exploring deeper. She wasn't ready for this strange man to kiss her like this, and was powerless to stop it.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

~ Ariadne wilted as his lips knew precisely how to take her. She felt dizzy and almost collapsed into his arms as his strong frame all but held her up.

"I'm not used to this." She panted as she finally broke away from him. Her body was screaming for him to touch her. She could suddenly sympathize with a drug addict, wanting something so badly she couldn't stand it.  
"Ariadne, we've done this before." he panted as his breath tickled her ear.

She felt her legs go weak at the contact of his lips on her skin. Her body giving into him as he lowered her to the floor of their closet.

Arthur's kiss burned her skin as she tried to calm herself down. She only half realized that he had laid her down on her back; his lean body rolling over hers as he seemed unable to stop.  
"Arthur, I haven't dated a lot." she tried to explain as his large hands roamed up her shirt. His strong fingers tickling her skin.

She felt her back arch as he kissed her without breaking.

"I've never done this before!" She cried softly as she felt his hands cup her between the legs. Her sex loving the feel of how strong he was. How he knew just what to do.

She realized he had pulled away from her. His lips no longer teasing and tormenting her. Her skin violently protesting his abandonment.

She was breathing hard as he kept his large hand cupped over her heated womanhood. His thumb rubbing her sex bud over her pants. Tickling her slightly with each stroke.

"I'm sorry, Ariadne." he said in a whisper. "I just... I missed you."

She tried to remember to breath right. Her body suddenly felt very hot as she realized she wanted him just now. Wanted him to do all those things to her and more.

"Arthur... I... I just haven't done this... I haven't dated a lot." she tired to explain.

Arthur was suddenly smiling affectionately.

"I know you haven't been with anyone before me." he said.

"I'm not religious or anything." she told him as she realized her sex was stirring with excitement. Arthur's hand was still between her legs. His thumb rubbing her slowly and she couldn't think strait.

"The first time we made love, was in a hotel room during a job for Cobb. It was raining outside, you had been sick." he told her.

"That sounds awful." she said as her hand ran over his jaw.

He smiled.

"It was at first. We had to share a room and the job had gone horribly. But you got better and... you called me out." he laughed.

She didn't understand.  
"You knew I liked you. You basically said I wanted you there with me and... well, you were right. One thing lead to another." he explained.

"That doesn't sound like me." she said as she suddenly gasped at the feel of his hand tormenting her. His abuse of her delicate folds making her excited.

'_What's happening?_' she thought worriedly.

"Well, you've always been pretty gutsy." Arthur admitted. "Never shy about expressing yourself."

"That's what my mother always says is wrong with me. I need to act more lady like." Ariadne said as her breathing speed up. "No be so independent."

"No, that's what I love about you. How brave and smart you are. I can't have a woman who acts like a lady all the time." Arthur said as he kissed her softly on the lips.

"Arthur." she mewed as he kissed her lips over and over again.

"So, we stayed locked up in that hotel room, making love all day and night for almost a week." he whispered.

"Sounds like a dream." she said as she could no longer process what he was saying. His hands had rubbed and tormented her sex until she couldn't take it any longer. Her desire felt ready to ignite if he didn't stop or at least finish what he had started.

Arthur was smiling.

"Yes, it was a dream." he whispered as he unzipped her pants and his fingers dipped into her swollen dampness.

Ariadne caught her breath at the contact of foreign flesh on her delicate woman hood.

"Um... Arthur." she gasped as he ruthlessly rubbed and tormented her.

"Don't worry, we won't do anything you're not ready for." he whispered as, with well practiced ease, he shed her of her pants and underwear. His hands delving into her wetness as she was made to grind and enjoy the pleasure he gave her.

Her body suddenly convulsed with an orgasm she didn't know she could have.  
Part of her instincts telling her to escape this man, with his evil hands. Part of her wanting him to never stop.

"Arthur!" she screamed as he rubbed her harder and faster. "Arthur please!"

His arms were strong as he pulled her tightly to him. Preventing her from escaping him.

"I love you." he whispered as those lips of his returned to hers. Her back arching up with the pleasures he was sending between her legs.

"Oh!" she cried out and another shock wave threatened to tear her poor body apart.

She had no idea it could feel this good. She had always been afraid of sex. Things in her past made her leery of men and things they needed from a woman. Even with all of Sadie's knowledgeable insight into carnal pleasures, she had no idea it could be this wonderful.  
"Arthur!" she panted as she realized she was kissing him back. Her sex wild with want as she wished his hands would never leave her. Never stop touching her like this. He knew just how to excite her, how to give her everything she wanted.

Suddenly, she couldn't take anymore. Her desire lit up angrily and she couldn't stand one more second of those large, warm hands on her secretive places.

"Stop!" she cried out. "Stop it!"

Both of them were breathing hard as he moved his hand off of her. Her body still reeling from his torments.

"At least you didn't forget how to come for me." Arthur panted.


	6. Chapter 6

6.

~ Ariadne sat up and looked for her underwear.

"I'm sorry." Arthur said as she suddenly felt very exposed and almost slutty.

She shook her head.

"No, it's not your fault." she told him. "I just... have you seen my...um?"

Arthur handed her her pants and she fished out her lacy panties and tried to slip them back on.

Arthur was kissing her neck, making the simple task harder.

She felt a flush of embarrassment as she realized her underwear was damp with her own lust.

"I think I should take a shower." she told him as he nuzzled her ear.

"Want company?" he asked.

She let out an embarrassed laugh.

"No, I'll be fine." she said as she rolled her panties back up and felt her face burn.

She stood up and didn't look back.

"You keep you pajamas in that drawer right there." Arthur told her with a little smile on his face. This man, who she hardly knew, was lounging casually on the floor of their closet. A pleased smirk on his face.

She blushed harder as she looked over the pretty patterns of night clothes. She loved comfortable and cute pajamas. She would live in them for days on end and she had a nice collection here.

She tried not to look at Arthur as she hurried out of the closet.

"Ariadne?" he called out.

She walked back to see he had nimbly stood up. He was grinning ear to ear and his eyes crinkled as he looked too happy at that moment.

"You forgot underwear." he said teasingly.

She wanted to hate him at that moment, but couldn't. She tried to play it casual as he watched her go to the impressive underwear draw and fished out a pair of panties. Arthur was watching her like a cat would watch a mouse.

"Thank you." she said modestly.

"You're very welcome." he said.

He was standing right beside her and before she knew it, he had hinged downward slightly and kissed her on the cheek.

She felt like she should have slapped him. How intrusive and inappropriate!

But she only flustered and tried not to smile.

"I have..." she stumbled out of their closet. "I'll be out after a while."

~ Ariadne looked at her reflection in the big bathroom mirror. Her cheeks were red over what had just happened. But her eyes were bright and she was glowing with happiness.

She allowed herself to smile as hot water was pumped into the shower.

The experience with Arthur in their bedroom closet was amazing. He was so gentle yet forceful at the same time. She wondered if it was always like this with him.

'_No wonder we have three kids in only six years._' she thought before stripping naked and climbing in the shower.

Something was off. While she was washing herself free of the heated exchange she and Arthur had, she realized her body was different. Her breasts were bigger, fuller. That was to be expected after three kids. Also, when she ran the hot water between her legs, her sex seemed more sensitive to it.

She brushed her fingers tentatively over her folds, she wasn't used to touching herself, and discovered her sex was hairless.

She finished washing her hair and body. Then, hoping quickly out of the shower, she looked at her naked body in the large mirror again.

Her private areas were closely waxed and what little hair was there, was neatly trimmed.

Ariadne examined herself closely and wondered when and why she had done this. Waxing all her body hair off wasn't something she normally did. In fact, this was more like something Sadie would do then Ariadne.

~ She dressed in the pajamas and tried to ignore the odd sensation of her panties rubbing against her intimate skin.

Arthur surely knew about her waxed parts. Maybe it was him who encouraged her to do that. She stopped in her tracks and wondered if she was some kind of trophy wife. That would make perfect sense. It would explain all the nice clothes and the waxing. The way Arthur couldn't keep his hands to himself.

It might also explain why he was so secretive about where his money came from. Information retrieval? What was that exactly?

She wandered out of their bedroom and into the large family room. This apartment was very large and it felt oddly empty and expectant. She could see what Arthur meant when he told her it was spooky at night.

She didn't find Arthur anywhere, as she explored a hallway. She opened one room that was decorated in soft lavender. Nicely frames prints of ballerinas were on the wall, as well as some teen pop singer and a cute movie star.

She realized this must be Darcy's bedroom as she looked over the neat little bedspread and a well loved teddy bear that sat proudly on the dresser.

The other room was devoted entirely to two little boys. Everything about it was cowboys, trucks, dinosaurs and horses.

She looked around the room. Stowed a few toys away and straitened out the bedspreads.

She finally reached the last room and knew it was the baby's at once.

Her heart melted at the sight of it. They must have had a professional painter and artist come in to created the wall mural of birds and trees. Ariadne wanted to cry when she say the children depicted as fairies. A fairy with wild curly hair coaxing a baby to fly as the two boys held her up.

She ran a hand over the bedding and went into her daughter's closet to see all the baby clothes.

She had never wanted children. She believed she wouldn't be a good mother, or that her husband would leave her as soon as the stress of family life got to him.

But the feel of the baby clothes made her wish these children were here right now.  
"Drew's bedroom." Arthur said.

She looked up at him from her orgy of touching and examining a cute jumper with stars on it to see her husband smiling at her.

"It's the most beautiful nursery I've ever seen." Ariadne said honestly.

"I have an artist come in and do all of this." he told her as he looked up at the ceiling painted to resemble clouds.  
"I didn't think I would every want to have children." she told him as she put the jumper back in the closet and picked up a stuffed elephant.

"It took a lot of convincing to even get you to marry me." Arthur told her.

She looked at him curiously.  
"Why is that? She asked him.

Arthur looked at his shoes.

"You were worried about... well, about having a family. We had been together for a while and I had just bought this place. It was all a little too much." he explained.

"How did you propose?" she asked. Suddenly very curious.

Arthur looked embarrassed.

"Do you want the version we tell people? Or what really happened?" he asked.

"You didn't marry me because I got pregnant, did you?" she asked in horror. Did she trap him? Was their whole marriage a lie?

"Oh no. Not at all. Dominic wasn't born until we got custody of Darcy even." Arthur assured her.

"Well, what do we tell people?" she asked.

"We had just moved into this apartment. We had almost no furniture, and we were happy. We had ordered Chinese food late at night, and ate it in bed because we didn't have a table yet. I gave you the ring and you said yes." Arthur told her with that smile she liked so much.

"That sounds nice." she said looking over the elegant blue stone. "What's the _real _story?"

"The real story is, we were going at it like our species was in danger of extinction; in the heat of the moment, I asked you to marry me. You got a little mad it wasn't more romantic." he told her with a shrug.

Ariadne's jaw almost hit the floor.

"But, I re-proposed with the Chinese food and gave you the ring. You were much happier after that." he assured her.

She turned back to the closet full of charming baby clothes.  
"I still can't believe I'm a mom." she told him as she fought off a blush.

"You weren't sold on the idea of kids when I first proposed." he offered.

"No, I'm sure I wasn't." she agreed. "My parents, Hugo and Victoria, are really... um... my grandparents. My dad ran off when I was little... my mom-"

"Ariadne." Arthur interrupted and shook his head.

Ariadne looked at him worriedly.

"It's alright, I know about Sammy and what your mother did." he assured her.  
"W- Who's Sammy?" she stammered.  
"Your baby brother. I know your mother locked him in a-"

"Who told you that?" she hissed sharply.

"You did." he said.  
"No. I would never tell anyone about Sammy. I haven't even thought about him in years!"

"You didn't tell me for a long time." Arthur told her.

She stepped away from him.

"I know you don't like to talk about it. That Hugo and Victoria adopted you when you were little and it was easier to pretend you were an only child being raised by grandparents after your parents flaked. I get it." he told her as he leaned on the door frame.

She was breathing hard and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What- what else do you think you know about me?" she asked.

"Ariadne, I know this upsets you. Talking about your past to someone you think is a stranger-"

"You are a stranger." she said stiffly.

Arthur looked slightly hurt.

"It's getting late, Dad and Ross are bringing the kids in tomorrow. We should get some sleep." he told her.


	7. Chapter 7

7.

~ Time got away from them. She was surprised to see that night had fallen over the city as Arthur took his own shower and prepared for bed.

Ariadne looked over her computer. It was the nicest piece of technology she had ever seen. It was sleek and thin, and the programs all ran very fast. She could have spent years on the rendering software alone.

"Having fun?" Arthur asked as he came into the dinning room where she had set up her work space.

"Oh..." she muttered distractedly as she pined and repined designs. "Yeah. I think some of this is coming back to me. I remember how to use these programs."

"So you're remembering things. That's good." Arthur said hopefully.

"Well, some things." Ariadne said with a shrug. "About our life, I guess."

"Tell me."

"Well, I remember a foot. I remember a tiny little foot and I remember thinking I loved that foot more than anything." she confessed with a smile.

She shook her head.  
"I know it sounds silly." she admitted.

"No, it's not silly." Arthur assured her. "It's Dominic's foot you're thinking of."

She watched him as he made tea, and brought it to her.

"When you were pregnant with him, he would kick you all the time. Always the same foot." he told her. "Then, when he was born, he kicked that same foot out all the time."

Ariadne felt her eyes well up slightly.

"That's nice." she said as she shut off her little computer.

"What about the other boy. David." she asked.  
"Daniel." Arthur corrected her.

"Daniel. Sorry." She said feeling bad for not knowing her own children's names. "What was he like when he was born?"

Arthur looked uncomfortable.

"We had moved to New York to live for a year. My father, the man who raised me, his company was in trouble. So, we moved to America to try and save it. It was stressful with the move and the hours I had to put in. It wasn't as joyous as it should have been." he told her.

She looked at him worriedly.

"I'm sorry." she said feeling in some unaccountable way she was to blame.

"It's not your fault." he told her taking her hand.

Ariadne tried to picture herself in New York. Tried to think of a life there. She could see Darcy and Dominic at that age, she could even picture herself expecting. Then, something was wrong. Something wasn't right with the the baby, Daniel, and she wasn't sure what.

Arthur was worried, and she was angry about it. She felt a jolt of unease at picturing her life in New York.  
"What about... um... Drew? Is that her name?" she asked hoping the story would be better.

"Yes, Drew." Arthur laughed.

She smiled as she sipped her tea.

"Well, we had Darcy of course and the two boys were into everything all the time. Cobb and his wife had just had a little girl and I told you I wanted another baby. A girl of our own. You told me I was crazy, and we fought about it for a long time." he said looking at his hands.

"We fought about having her? I didn't want her?" Ariadne asked.

"Oh no. That wasn't it. You weren't even pregnant then. I'm ashamed to say I... sort of tricked you into getting pregnant." he admitted.

"How?" she asked without thinking.

Her face burned a deep red as she realized he must have seduced her. If their time in the closet meant anything, she gave into Arthur easily.

He didn't answer.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." she said not looking at him.

They said nothing for a long time.

"I'm I a good mother?" she asked him. "I mean, do I take care of them?"

"You're a wonderful mother." he assured her.

"I still can't imagine being someone's mom. I mean, to me, I just finished high school." she told him.

"I'm hoping that once you see the kids again, you'll remember." He whispered.

Arthur suddenly stood up.

"It's late, you coming to bed?" he asked.

Ariadne stiffened.

"We sleep in the same bed, don't we?" she said meekly.

"Yes. I never sleep in a bed without my wife. You're being in the hospital was a rare exception." he informed her in a business like way.

She stood and followed him into their bedroom. Her stomach was a jumble of nerves as she watched him prepare for sleep.

She covered herself up with the luxurious bedding and glanced at her night stand.

"What is this?" she asked holding up a strange device.

"It's your e-reader. You like to read when you have the time." he told her as he snapped off his night stand light and made himself comfortable beside her.

Like her computer, she knew exactly how to work the device. She couldn't explain why she wasn't more shocked to see the print jump on the screen.

"It's been a long day." Arthur whispered to her as she looked over her reading lists.

"Oh, I'm sorry." she said and snapped off her table lamp.

Their room in darkness, Ariadne felt odd at sharing a bed with this man.

"Arthur?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"This is weird for me. Being in bed with you." she confessed.

"Aw come on now, my wife won't be home for a few more days." he told her. "We should live it up."

She let out a giggle and didn't protest to his hand roaming up her belly. She was growing very fond of his hands.

"I'm sorry for being so... ungentlemanly in the closet before. I just missed you." he explained.

"Are we like that... I mean, are we like that _often_?" She asked him as his fingers roamed up her belly, tickling her skin.

She moved closer to him; liking the way his hands moved over her.

"Oh yes." he said with a smile. "Not as much since the kids came along. But, we have our fun."

"This is just new to me." she admitted.

"So, it will be like the first time?" he offered as he rolled on top of her. She wasn't sure why she didn't protest. His movements were so fast, so self assured, that she was under him in a matter of seconds. Her body powerless to fight back against this man.

She was breathing harder as her small hands roamed up his bare chest.

She didn't know how to do this. How to touch him or be with him, or any man.

"First time is always the best." he told her. "It was when we were together." he said as his hips forced her legs to part and his lips moved over hers.

Her body melted at the contact of him. Loving the way his weight felt on her.

"I don't... I don't remember how." she whispered as he slowly began rocking over her.

She was startled to feel a hard bulge rub obtrusively over her. Her pajamas protecting her from the invasion of man.

Arthur was smiling that way she liked again. His eyes crinkling and his hands brushing her hair free from her face.

"You'll remember." he told her gently.

"Tell me, about the first time we were together." She asked.

He smiled.  
"You were adorable. We were stuck in the same hotel room together and you didn't have a change of clothes. You had to wear my night clothes and you looked... wonderful in them." he told her.

She caught her breath at the feel of his hardness wanting entrance into her.

Arthur stayed polite however, his eyes looking at her with affection, and nothing more.

"What happened then?" she asked. Her body liking the feel of him.

"I was going to sleep on the chair, but you told me I could sleep in the bed with you." he explained.

"So I started it?" she laughed.

"Oh, yes. I didn't want to admit I wanted you, but you called me out. After that, we couldn't keep our hands off each other." he told her.

She realized she wanted him to take her. His lean body was moving in a hypnotic rhythm over hers and she wanted him to make love to her.

"Did I... I mean, was it... was it okay?" she asked feeling her cheeks heat up.

"It was wonderful. First time is always wonderful." he told her.

She nodded. Waves of want and pleasure were racing through her blood.

"Do you want to make love, Ariadne?" he asked.

"I'm not sure." she whispered.

He nodded, and kissed her sweetly.

"No rush. You've had a busy day. We should take things slow." he told her as he rolled away from her.

She wanted to cry out. Wanted that warm body of his back on hers. She could have slept peacefully with him resting on top of her. But she said nothing.

"Arthur?" she said into the darkness.

"Yes?"

"I... I liked what we did in the closet. I liked that a lot."

She could sense he was smiling.

"I did to."

"Arthur?"

"Yes?"

She bit her lip; afraid to say anything.

"Tell me about our first time. Tell me... everything." she asked.


	8. Chapter 8

8.

~ "What do you want to know?" he asked as she longed for him to roll on top of her again. "How you came to bed with no panties on and how that drove me crazy?"

She felt her breath catch at the idea of doing that. She was always so modest and the idea of arriving in bed with a man with no underwear on was impossible to think about.  
"What did you do?" she asked casually.

Arthur chuckled and rolled over her.

She savored the feel of his lean body molding onto hers. Delighted in having his warm flesh back on her again.

"Ariadne." he said sternly. "I don't don't think we should get into anything tonight. You've had a hard day, and we have time to get back like were."

"I know." she said meekly. "It's just... I'm trying to get my memory back."

She bit her lip hard and screwed up her courage.

"You... you said I came to bed... without..." she took a deep breath and slipped her pajama bottoms slowly down. The feel of her bare skin in the sheets was exhilarating.

Arthur glanced down at her body as she kicked free the discarded clothing. He didn't look amused.  
"You said I didn't have panties on. What... what happened then?" she asked.

"I think you should go to sleep." Arthur told her.

"I don't want to go to sleep." she said.

With a swivel of his hip, Arthur ground his hardness into her. Ariadne, already been filled with a tingling of want for him, was rewarded by a rush of pleasure from his movements. He still had a barrier of clothing to protect them from actual mating, but the way he rocked and bucked into her, it almost lifted her entire body of off the bed.  
"You sure you want this? I won't settle for dry humping tonight." Arthur said darkly.  
"I... I want this." she whispered as she didn't want his addictive movements to stop.

Arthur smiled a little.  
"Well, you can't have it." he told her.

Almost immediately, his movements stopped and he rolled away from her.  
"What?" she cried out and felt ready to slap him. She wanted another delicious orgasm that he gave her in the closet. He was so close to helping her; why did he stop now?

"Arthur!" she spat bitterly at him. Her body rolling to be closer to his. Wanting the feel of him again.

"You're doctors said we need to hold off on sex until you memories come back.

"That didn't stop you in the closet." she snapped at him.  
"I was weak. I had a beautiful girl with me." he laughed.  
"You have beautiful girl with you right _now_!" she said harshly. Her sex bucking close to his hip.

Arthur looked to have weakened.  
"Stop teasing me." she whimpered as she sensed he would give into her. Surprised she was so capable of manipulating a man.

Arthur looked at her face and moved back to her.  
"You honestly don't remember me? Remember our life together? It's like you're having sex with a stranger." he said in a whisper.

"I know, but I trust you." she told him.

He didn't respond to this. Only moved closer as her little hands found the hardness that was growing. Her fingers grazing over the fabric of his sleep pants.

"We'll take it slow." he told her. "If you need me to stop, you have to tell me."

"Alright." she agreed happily. She felt like a child on Christmas Eve who was allowed to open a present before the big day.

Arthur lowered himself on top of her. Those hips of his parting her legs again as she felt his hardness rub threateningly over her tender sex.

"Touch me." Arthur demanded as his lips grazed over her neck.

She almost protested when his hand moved over hers. Guiding her to his enlarging erection.

"Arthur?" she whispered up to him as she felt a ripple of fear.

"I gave to you, today." he whispered. "It's your turn."

"I don't do oral sex." she told him as her hand caressed the length of him. His erection almost popping free of his sleep pants. His shaft too long for her run a hand over.

Arthur was chuckling.

"Yes you do. You're very good at it." he told her.

She felt odd about touching him. She didn't know how much presser to apply or how long to keep it going. Several times Arthur had to correct her technique. Tell her to work him harder.

"I'm not asking you to suck me off tonight, beautiful." He whispered as he showered her how to caress the spongy head of his shaft. "But, I love having you're mouth on me."

"Arthur. I just-" she whispered before he started kissing her.

"We can call the whole thing off." he interrupted.

"No, I want to do this." she told him. Her desire felt oddly damp and longing for his penetration.

"Keep going." he growled as she tried to work him harder. Her hands too small to close around him and she wasn't sure she was doing it hard enough.

He was breathing hard as she tried to move her hand over him faster and stronger. His own hand guiding her to satisfy him.

He let out a soft moan before pulling her hand away.

"Roll on you're back. Take you're top off." he ordered.

She complied. Her body naked and vulnerable to him.

She could see through the darkness, his lean body standing up off the side of their bed. His erection, larger then when they started, stood at attention and made her a little afraid.

"Spread your legs." he commanded and she didn't hesitate to do as ordered.

Her sex was wet and the cool air of their room made her exposure more pronounced.

His hands never left her as spread her legs ever further.

"You started waxing as a birthday present to me. Do you remember?" her asked. His voice husky and dark.  
"No. I... I saw I don't have any hair... um.." she panted as her desire felt ready to rip it's self apart.

"Best birthday present you ever gave me. I used my present a lot that night." he said in a voice that made her a little afraid.  
"Arthur?" she asked as this man suddenly pulled her up by the hips, his mouth on her delicate womanhood. His hot breath and tongue tickling her sweet, secretive places. Tormenting her swollen sex bud till she screamed and tried to push him away.

"Put your hands to your side. Don't make me tell you again." he threatened as he continued his feed.

"Arthur." she whimpered softly as she wanted to obey him suddenly. Wanted to have him use her.

She tried to not let her body come as his mouth abused her sex. His tongue tickling her in a way her body would jump involuntarily. His mouth feeding off of her wetness.

"You've always tasted good." he growled. Finally lowering her hips back down on their bed.

She was breathing hard as she tried not to touch herself. Her sex still wanting attention; still needing this man to give her more.

"Arthur, please." she panted as he climbed on top of her.

"You want me to stop?" he breathed as his lips moved over hers. Making her taste her own salty desire.

"No." she whispered. The feel of his ridged hardness was resting on her belly. "Please, don't stop."

His large hands, oh how she loved those hands, were back on her again. Spreading her legs and her wetness to him.

"I love you." he whispered before heartlessly forcing himself in.

She gasped at the fullness of it. The violent mating that filled her body up so tightly, she had to let out the air in her lungs.

"Arthur?" she breathed as she was afraid to move. Afraid if she wiggled about, he would use this weapon of his to hurt her.  
"Are you okay?" he asked. His warm, naked body back over hers again.  
"Yes." croaked as she slowly realized it didn't hurt. Didn't feel uncomfortable.

In fact, the fullness of him, the length and power, felt... good.

"I'm okay." she admitted at she relaxed a little around him. Her body accepting his assault and responding to it favorably.

"I love you so much." he told her as his hips, a thing she loved almost as much as his hands, started to move over hers. Making her sex exploded suddenly with euphoric pleasure.  
"Oh God!" she screamed as she gripped hard onto Arthur's back and ruthlessly clawed him.

He was relentless with her punishment. His hips wriggling and moving her body as she was fated to take all of him. Her body climaxing so hard she feared she might die from his sweet torments.

His movements picked up and he thrust himself faster into her. Her body thankful for each wave of pleasure he gave her as he grunted and groaned out his final climax.

They were both panting hard as her senses came back to her.

His softening erection pulling out of her body in a mess of ejaculate and other fluids.

"Are you alright?" he whispered.

She smiled. She had never felt so wonderful in her life. Her body was calm and satisfied; almost happy.

"I didn't know it could be like that." she said with a contented smile.


	9. Chapter 9

9.

~ Ariadne had never slept so well in all her life, as she did after Arthur kissed her sweetly and rolled off her.

She didn't remember anything after that, and woke feeling euphorically wonderful.

"Good morning." he said as he nuzzled her ear. Her body responding to him eagerly.

"Good morning." she said with a wide smile plastered on her face.

"Last night was fun." he whispered.

"Yes, it was." she said with a giggle.

"Do you want to take a bath together?" he asked hopefully.

Ariadne thought about the big bath tub. Someone standing over her, holding her under the water till she knew she was going to drown. It had happened in that bathroom; she was certain of it. A strong person was holding her down, and her last thought were of her child. She wasn't sure which child, but there was a child involved.

'_Arthur, it was because of Arthur._' she thought.  
She shivered at the idea of going back into the bathtub again.

"No, we can just take a shower." she offered.

"Alright." Arthur said happily as he jumped out of their bed. His body full on energy. "Come on, lazy." he said pulling her to him.

She laughed and tried to kick him away as he pulled the sheet off her and grabbed hold of her ankles.

"Arthur!" she squealed and tried not to giggle. "Stop it!"

He was smiling in that way she liked again as he bent over to kiss her, unashamed of being totally naked.

~ In the hot shower, he helped her wash her hair and body as the warm water fell luxuriously over them. Protecting them from the coolness of morning.

Ariadne suddenly remembered something they had forgotten in the heat of the moment last night.

"You came inside me." she said as he sponged off her back.

"I did." he admitted and kissed her shoulder.  
"Am I on birth control?" she asked.

"After Drew was born, I had a vasectomy." he told her sadly. "We felt that three is enough. Although we can always have it reversed if you change your mind."

"No, I think three is enough." she laughed. "Did we plan on having such a big family? I still can't imagine wanting kids."

"You didn't want children at first. But you changed your mind and wanted a baby very much after we got engaged. After we were married, we were trying to get pregnant without success. Then, Darcy came to live with us, and before we knew it, Dominic was on his way. Then, when Dominic was a year old, you announced on you wanted another baby." he explained as his hands roamed over her breasts.  
"Why did Darcy come to live with us? Where's her mother?" Ariadne asked.

Arthur looked uncomfortable.

"Darcy's mother is in prison right now." he explained.

"Why?"

"She was abusing Darcy. That's the main reason we took her to live with us. At the time we adopted her, I thought the man who raised me was my real father and that Darcy was my half sister. So it was only right that we take her. When she was diagnosed with cancer-"

"Oh God!" Ariadne exclaimed.

"She's fine now." Arthur assured her. "When she was diagnosed, we checked to see if I was a bone marrow match. It turned out I wasn't related to her at all. My real dad was a man my late mother used to work with."

"That must have been awful." Ariadne said sadly. "So, Darcy's mother is in prison because she abused her?"

Arthur didn't say anything for several seconds.

"Yes." he said at last.

~ "That was Albert on the phone. He's taking the boys to school and then he's going to drop Drew off after ten o'clock." Arthur explained after they had their shower.

Ariadne dressed in one of the oh so timelessly chic outfits that was tucked into her closet. She felt a rush of excitement at meeting her daughter. The photographs Arthur showered her were of a cute, laughing baby with chipmunk cheeks just like she had when she was a baby.

She heard the front door buzz and Arthur went to answer it.  
"Are they here already?" Ariadne asked as she glanced at her watch. It was still too early.

"It's Sadie." Arthur grumbled as he let the leggy spider woman inside.

Ariadne felt a rush of happiness at seeing her friend. No matter how different she looked in her well tailored clothes that were subtle and muted in color.  
"I thought you might like to go out for coffee." the spider woman said.  
"You could have called first." Arthur complained as Ariadne hugged her.  
"And have you say you're too busy, or duck my calls?" Sadie accused.

"I'd love to go out for coffee." Ariadne said. She wanted to tell the spider woman everything about last night with Arthur.

"Just be home by eleven." Arthur told her as she gave him a quick kiss goodbye.

~ "So, how are you liking the husband? Do you remember him at all?" Sadie asked.

"I remember some things." Ariadne admitted as they walked to a cafe. "He's very nice."

"No, he's not." Sadie huffed as she lit up a cigarette.  
"I thought you were trying to quit." Ariadne said as she coughed back the foul perfume of Sadie's smoke.  
"Oh! Will everyone leave me alone! I'll quit if I want to, I'll smoke if I want to!" Sadie said hatefully. "Eames wants me to stop smoking because he has. I don't know, he wants us to live now or something."

Ariadne was almost ready to sing with her own news.  
"Arthur and I had sex last night." Ariadne whispered in Sadie's ear.  
"So?" the spider woman asked.

"So? This is kind of a big deal!"

"You've had sex with him before." Sadie said with a roll of her eyes.  
"Yes, but I don't remember the other times." Ariadne insisted. "Not only that," Ariadne leaned in closer to her friend. "Sadie, it was really good. I mean... I think he might turn me into a nymphomaniac. It's all I want to do with him now. I mean, last night I was so turned on, I _begged_ him to make love to me. I've never felt that way before."

"Very nicely done. Way to go Arthur. You should try and convince him to take us up on our offer to swing with you two. You and Eames, myself and Arthur." Sadie said slyly.

Ariadne felt sick.  
"No, I don't see us doing that. Besides, I don't think Arthur likes you."

Sadie shrugged.  
"Doesn't mean we can't engage in a little hate fucking. Especially if he knows what he's doing." Sadie said with a casual shrug.

"Sadie!" Ariadne snapped and felt her face flush hotly.  
"Well, I'm very happy you and Arthur are back together. I didn't want you two to get divorced after what he did." Sadie said as they reached the cafe.

Ariadne had to think.  
"We were thinking about getting divorced?" Ariadne asked.  
"Oh yes, you two separated and everything." the spider woman said and then hastily ordered coffee for them in effortless French.

"Why were we thinking of divorcing?" Ariadne asked.

After last night, she couldn't imagine not wanting Arthur. Even now, her body ached for him again.  
"Oh, he did a bad thing. He tricked you into getting pregnant and you didn't want another baby." Sadie explained.  
"He told me a little about that." Ariadne admitted.  
"Yes, you were very angry about it, and I don't blame you. He basically treats you like a baby machine. Now, you're career is starting to get back on track after all these horrible kids." Sadie moaned. "I'll bet he want's to try and get you knocked up again."

Ariadne had to think about her coupling with Arthur last night. They hadn't used protection and she had trusted him when he said he had a vasectomy. Was it possible he lied about that?

"What is it I do? For my career." she asked Sadie.

The leggy spider woman took their coffees and almost burned her tongue on the hot drink.

"You work for that man child Seth. He makes video games. You build all these little virtual cities and he loves you for it." Sadie told her enthusiastically.

"Seth _loves_ me?" Ariadne asked skeptically.

"Oh yes. You've made him a millionaire. He wants you to go with him to America on some kind of shareholders tour for the new game he's promoting. He is trying to find backers for this project. Some kind of game about zombies and you have to gather supplies and I don't know."

"It's a comprehensive multilayer game where you are surviving the zombie invasion. You gather supplies, skills and team members and try to survive." Ariadne corrected her. "The city is a maze of traps and other players and resources. You can steal supplies and resources from other teams in the city. You can be a survivor, a member of a rescue team, or even a zombie hunting your friends."

The Architect sat back in her chair, surprised with herself.

"How did I know that?" Ariadne asked.  
"I don't know. I hate video games." Sadie said with a shrug. "Maybe your work memories were stored in a different part of your brain."

Ariadne shook her head.

"So, I guess Arthur and I worked it out." Ariadne said hopefully.

"I guess. Darcy had to go in for cancer treatments and then there was that mess with the other woman. Corrine? What a hussy!" Sadie laughed. "Eames said she was a hot mess!"

"Wait..." Ariadne had to think for a moment. "Who's _Corrine_?"

**Sadie just make life more interesting, doesn't she? **


	10. Chapter 10

10.

~ Arthur was waiting for his wife to come back from coffee with Sadie when his father dropped off Drew.  
"How was she?" the Point Man asked as the pleasant little girl squirmed in his arms. Already wanting to be put back down so she could try walking again.

"Very good. But she's always good girl." Albert sighed. The older man looked a little tired as he took off his glassed and rubbed his eyes.  
"How is Ariadne? All this must be extremely stressful on the both of you." Albert said.

"She's better then I thought. She remembers bits and pieces." Arthur offered as he let Drew onto the floor for her explore.

"Does she remember you at all?" Albert asked.

Arthur sighed.  
"I'm hoping once she see Drew and the boys, that it will all come back to her. Mother's instict and all that." Arthur said hopefully.

"Have you told her about Daniel? About the blindness?" Albert asked.

Arthur looked at his shoes.

"Arthur?" Albert demanded gently.

"I just... I'm not sure how to tell her. Once her memories come back, she'll remember on her own." Arthur told him hurriedly. "I don't want to tell her everything, she won't know what's a genuine memory, and whats been told to her."

"What if she doesn't remember? What if the nanny drops the boys off tonight and she doesn't remember them? Think of the shock it would do to her." Albert protested.

"I can handle this, Dad." Arthur growled. "You don't know what it's like to be married. To have a wife you have to protect and care for. To have small children you have to think of."

Albert stepped away from his son. A look of deep hurt on his face.

"I'm sorry." Arthur said at once. "This whole thing is very stressful."

"I had better go." Albert said softly. His large, clever hands folding over his suit the same way Arthur was prone to do when he was nervous.

"Dad, I'm sorry." Arthur said again.

Albert was at the door already when Ariadne let herself in.  
"Oh, hello." Albert said politely and gave her a little bow.

Ariadne looked at Albert, not recognizing him.

"Hello." she said at last.  
"I'm Albert. I'm Arthur's father." he told her as Arthur walked over to them.  
"Oh!" Ariadne exclaimed and laughed. "Oh, yes. It's nice to meet you."

She stood there awkwardly.  
"Although, I'm sure I've already met you." she said with a forced laugh.

"Never fear, my darling. I'll be around. I just came by to drop off the baby and see how you were. Is my son treating you alright?" Albert asked.

~ Ariadne felt herself blush hard over this charming gentleman asking about her. He had Arthur's height and build almost exactly. The two were very obviously related and Ariadne wondered how Arthur could have been raised by anyone other than this lovely man.  
"He's been very nice." Ariadne said honestly.

"Very good to hear." Albert said and took her hand, kissed it like the knights of old and said goodbye.

"Don't let him charm you." Arthur teased as she felt her face pull into a smile. "He's in the music business."

"Is he like a manager?" Ariadne asked she locked the front door. The feel of the door felt familiar and right.  
"No, he's a performer." Arthur told her. "It was how he met my mother. She was a dancer."

Ariadne looked surprised.

"What? Like in a band?" she asked. "Was she an exotic dancer?"

It was Arthur's turn to look surprised.  
"No." he said flatly. "My mother was in the New York City Ballet. My father was a piano player. He still tours to world playing modern classical."

"Oh." Ariadne said feeling embarrassed. "I'm sorry. That was rude of me."

"No, it's alright. Are you ready to meet your daughter?" he asked.

~ Drew was delightful. Her hair was curly and the color of caramel. She gave her father a squal of protest as he plucked her up and brought her to Ariadne.  
"She's walking already?" Ariadne asked as Arthur handed her the baby. The child felt too heavy to hold. The Architect was naturally tiny herself and the baby made her plant her feet more securely in the ground while holding her.  
"Yes, she's like Daniel. Always wanting to get ahead of herself." Arthur mused as the baby laughed loudly at being reunited with her mother.

Ariadne had never held a baby before in her life. She had no living brothers or sisters. No nieces of nephews to practice on. This squirming bundle of arms and legs was new to her.  
"How do I hold her?" Ariadne asked worriedly as Drew seemed to want to pull away and want to be back on the floor.  
"Just put your arm under her bottom and your other arm on her back." Arthur instructed as Drew pulled on Ariadne's hair.

"Okay, let go." Ariadne said sweetly to the little girl who didn't act like what she thought a baby would act like. Drew wanted down, and she wanted to do as she pleased. Being held by a mother who forgot how to hold her, was not on the agenda.  
"Oh." Ariadne gasped as Drew made a break for freedom and Ariadne almost dropped her.  
"It's okay." Arthur said helpfully.

"Arthur, she doesn't like me." Ariadne said helplessly as the Point Man took the now fussy child from her.

Back in her father's capable arms, Drew was calm and serene. The child glared at Ariadne as if she were a horrible thing.  
"She's probably just needs a nap." Arthur offered.

"No. Look at her, she doesn't like me." Ariadne said feeling like she had failed her child.

"She's one years old. She loves you. It's just the accident, your nervous about seeing her again." Arthur tired to explain.

"She loves you!" Ariadne cried as Drew was perfectly content in Arthur's arms. The baby cuddling close to him. Her face nestled in his shoulder.  
"Ariadne, I'm going to put her down for a nap, then, when she wakes up, you can feed her." Arthur said patiently. "You'll remember how to take care of her. Your a good mother; I promise."

Ariadne shook her head and started to cry.

She wanted to love that pretty little girl. She saw her own eyes in Drew, her own full lips. But her daughter didn't want her to hold her. Her own child didn't love her.


	11. Chapter 11

11.

~ Arthur put the baby down for a nap and came to find Ariadne.

"She'll be up in an hour, and much less fussy." he promised Ariadne as the Architect was frantically searching in a roll top desk for something.  
"What are you looking for?" he asked.  
"Do you have any cigarettes?" Ariadne asked.  
"You don't smoke." Arthur said in shock.

"Yes, I do. And when my daughter hates me and doesn't want me to hold her, I need to smoke a lot." she told him angrily.  
"I don't smoke and neither do you." Arthur told her as she carelessly riffled though the roll top's chubby holes.

"I have a memory of you smoking out there on the balcony; you smoke." Ariadne snapped.  
"I gave it up after our first baby was born." Arthur insisted.

Ariadne felt at the back of the desk and found what she was looking for. She held up a half empty pack and Arthur looked ashamed of himself at being caught.

"I think I must have known you were hiding them in here. I knew just where to look. Same thing happened today with Sadie, I knew all about some zombie game I'm developing." she said as she took the lighter out of the pack and went out onto the balcony.

Arthur followed.  
"I smoke occasionally, but you never do." he told her.

"Well, you happened to catch me between pregnancies, so I think I can light up. Unless you lied to me about the vasectomy, like you lied about everything else." she snapped as she lit the cigarette.

Her lungs rejected the sharp, knife like feel of her first drag. She coughed loudly and her eyes watered.

'_Maybe I did give them up_.' she thought bitterly.

The nicotine did it's work however, and she felt calmer.

Arthur waited a few minutes for her to collect herself before asking:

"What do you mean I lied to you? I haven't lied to you." he said.

"Fine." she shrugged.

"No, not _fine_. What do you think I lied to you about?"

"Nothing." Ariadne said childishly.

"Ariadne, I need you to talk like a grown up right now, not some teenager. Please give me a strait answer." he said in a stern voice.

She let out a plum of smoke, likening how it made her feel sophisticated. Sadie had taught her how to smoke, and she knew it annoyed Arthur right now.  
"Who is Corrine?" Ariadne asked.

Arthur looked at his hands. His jaw tight as he said nothing at first.

"She was our nanny." he told her at last. "I fired her."

"Why?"

"Because she came onto me." he explained. "You and I were having troubles, I had recently found out about Albert being my real dad. It was a very stressful time."

"Did you sleep with her?" Ariadne asked.  
"No, never." Arthur told her.

Ariadne swallowed.

"We were having troubles?" she asked. "What about?"

"Drew." he said simply. "I told you that I tricked you into getting pregnant with her. I wanted another baby and you wanted to wait. I told you about that before."

"I was mad enough that we separated for a while." Ariadne said glaring at him.

"Sadie told you all this." Arthur grumbled.  
"Sadie is many things. She's evil, narcissistic, tactless and cruel. But she is not a liar." Ariadne said as she took another drag. She felt like she was on the verge of tears.  
"You're right, she's not." Arthur conceded.

"Did you really have a vasectomy?" Ariadne asked.

"Yes. I can show you the medical records if you want." Arthur told her.  
"Were you trying to keep me pregnant all the time so I would stay at home?" she asked.

"No." Arthur said sharply. "We wanted Dominic, we wanted Daniel. It was a split vote about Drew. You wanted to wait because the boys were still young and into everything. Darcy was a handful and I wouldn't listen. I've apologized for it over and over. We separated for a while, when Darcy got sick, we reconciled and then I found out about my real father."

"So, we're only together because Darcy was sick?" she asked stubbing out the burnt down cigarette and pulling out another.

"We're together because we love each other." Arthur said in a harsh voice.  
"How do I know that's true? How do I know we're not together for the kids sake?" she asked.

The Point Man stood up abruptly. His long, lean frame stalking around the balcony.

"God, Ariadne. I love you more than anything. Didn't I prove that to you last night?" Arthur huffed. Frustration clearly written on his face.

"Don't touch me." Ariadne snapped as he moved closer to her. "Why didn't you tell me about our separating? It's a big deal for a woman to separate from the man she has children with."

"I planned to tell you." Arthur said soberly. "I was hoping you would remember on your own."

Ariadne looked away from him.  
"Look, we've been together for a long time. We've been through a lot of shit." the Point Man suddenly snapped.

"Like what? Tell me!" Ariadne screamed at him. "You keep waiting for my memories to come back and they're not coming back, Arthur! I can't even remember how to hold my own baby!"

Arthur stood and walked back into the living room.

"Where are you going?" she asked worriedly.  
"I'm going to show you the records from my vasectomy. I don't want you thinking I'm trying to get you pregnant again."

"Fine." Ariadne said petulantly. She tossed her half burned cigarette off the balcony and followed him.

~ Down what was probably the servant's hall, Arthur kept a neat little office.

"We keep all our documents in here." he told her as he pulled out a key from his pocket and unlocked a handsome set of file cabinets. He effortlessly found a blue folder and showed her the paper work from a local clinic.  
"See? About three months after Drew was born I had the procedure done. We agreed it would be easier than you going on the shot." he said with a long sigh.

She looked over the documents. It had Arthur's full name as patient and that he had a vasectomy. She even spotted her own signature as the person who drove him home.

"I made a mistake by getting you pregnant with Drew. I know that." Arthur whispered. "I'm not the kind of man who would prevent you from having a life outside of motherhood. I just wanted another baby."

She looked over his records as he locked the file cabinet back and stowed the keys in his pocket.

A faint cry came from down the hall.  
"I think Drew is up." Arthur sighed.  
"You go get her." Ariadne whispered. "I'll be right there."

Arthur nodded and left her to read over the file.

~ When she was satisfied by all she read, she joined him in the nursery.

Her handsome husband was holding her beautiful baby in his arms. The little girl laughing.

"She's in a much better mood." Ariadne said with a half smile.

"She's a good baby. I'm surprised my dad hasn't tried to steal her. I think they're in love." Arthur told her.

Ariadne stepped by Arthur's side. Wrapping her hands around his waist as Drew giggled in his arms.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you." she whispered as Arthur kissed the little girl.

"It's alright." he whispered back. "I didn't want to tell you everything because I didn't want your memories to get confused."

She nodded.

"I understand." she said softly and her small, careful hands slipped into his pocket and plucked up the key to the file cabinet. He didn't seem to notice as the baby screamed to be put down.

'_We'll see what else you're hiding._' she thought bitterly as Drew smiled for Arthur, and not for her.


	12. Chapter 12

12.

~ Drew loved bananas. She gave Ariadne a big, gummy smile as she tried to feed herself and couldn't quite make her hands meet her mouth.

"We're making a bit of a mess here." Ariadne laughed as she tried to wipe away the excess with a bib. Drew squealed and moved away. Intent on massacring her banana her way.

"I'm telling you, she's like you and Daniel; wants to do her own thing." Arthur said wisely as Drew made happy baby sounds and kicked her chubby legs.

"Well, even covered in mush, she's still cute." Ariadne said as she kissed the baby's temple.  
"Yes. She gets it from you." Arthur told her.  
"You weren't a cute baby?" Ariadne asked.

Arthur took a sip of coffee and shook his head.

"No, I was always this ugly and grouchy. You can ask anyone."

Ariadne looked over his clothes. His nice dress slacks. A dress shirt rolled to his elbows, and a tie.

"We're you going somewhere today?" she asked.

Arthur shook his head.

"No, why?"

She laughed.  
"Well, you're a bit dressed up." she told him.  
"No, I'm not. This is casual, and I always dress this way." he told her.

Ariadne had to laugh again.  
"What?" Arthur asked with a bemused smile.

"Well, the only people who dress like you are my teachers and my dad." she said. Her face suddenly fell. "Well, my_ adopted_ dad." she amended.

"I wish I could have known them." Arthur told her.  
"This last thing I remember about my parents isn't very good. I was wishing they would leave me alone. I wanted to make my own mistakes and live my own life. Dad was scared I was running with the wrong crowd. Mother was worried because I was out drinking and partying." she said sadly. "I think I remember the fire now. I was out with Sadie and John, and I came home late and there were all these trucks with lights. I had had a fight with mother the day before."

Arthur said nothing.  
"I just wish, I had been a better daughter." Ariadne sighed. "They were so good to me. They took me out of that group home and gave me everything. I'd hate to think about my life if they hadn't adopted me."  
"I think you were a great daughter." Arthur told her. "You're an excellent mother, if that proves anything."

She smiled at him.

"We should go and pick the boys up from school." Arthur offered.  
She nodded and together, they cleaned Drew up as best they could. Their daughter seemed to want to be covered in mushed bananas and howled when she was cleaned.  
"Oh hush." Ariadne said as some familiar instinct told her how to sooth her daughter's cries.

Drew buried her head in her mother's shoulder and Ariadne turned to Arthur.

"Look, I'm doing it." She said with a hopeful smile.

~ Dominic came running to them when they arrived at his school.  
"Mamma!" the little boy screamed as Arthur held the baby.

Ariadne still wasn't used to children. Wasn't used to them touching her or grabbing her. Arthur had been right to ease her into contact with Drew. With Dominic, affection was a full contact sport.

"Mamma, I missed you! Papa missed you, Daniel missed you, Drew missed you and Darcy isn't home!" the little boy screamed as Ariadne laughed.

This child seemed to love her so fiercely, it was a little frightening.

"I missed you to... Dominic." she said. Having to think for a moment what his name was.

"Mamma, are you all better now?" The little boy whispered into her ear in French. The language felt odd and wonderful coming out of the child's mouth.  
"I'm better now that you're here." she whispered back in French.

It was true; the little boy, who looked like Arthur, made her feel instantly better as he ran to his small work table and brought her a painting project he had been working on.

"Mamma, I painted this just for you. No ones else, only you." the boy said as he came back to her.

He gave her the painting and she gasped as the childish rendering of a woman with dark hair and flowers growing in her hair.  
"Dominic, this is very good. It's the best painting ever!" she told him truthfully.  
"Dominic has been taking art classes." Arthur told her.  
"You want to be an artist when you're older?" Ariadne asked.  
"Yes, I want to work with you and make cities with you." Dominic told her with a grin so big, she could see where he was losing his baby teeth.

She let out a laugh and hugged the little boy closer to her.  
~ "See that wasn't so bad." Arthur told her as they packed Dominic and Drew in the back of the car.

"Why doesn't Daniel go to this school?" Ariadne asked as they drove to pick up their last child.

Arthur looked uncomfortable.

"Daniel! I want Daniel!" Dominic screamed sharply.  
"Stop shouting Dom." Arthur said and ignored Ariadne's question.

~ They arrived at a building that Ariadne didn't recognize. It was a school, but it was oddly different. There was brail over ever written surface. Over room numbers, offices, bathrooms.

She also noticed this school was much smaller, and nicer. She shrugged off all the brail sighs to mean the building was more friendly to the handicapped.  
"Is this a special school?" Ariadne asked as she passed a group of children playing instruments, and doing it very well. "Like for musically inclined children?"

She loved the idea one of her kids would be a famous musician. Why not? Arthur's father was one, maybe Daniel had inherited Arthur's large hands and used them on an instrument. He had been accepted into this school of music and was training up to be a concert... well... something.

She almost felt ready to skip at the promise of seeing what this other marvelous son would be like. She had one child who was training to be in the ballet, another was destined to be a Picasso, and this one was to be a Mozart. She was already making plans for Drew to be a famous writer or poet when they reached Daniel's class room.

The room was filled with younger children from the ages of two to six. All of them surrounded, not by musical instruments, or even desks.

Instead there were a very realistic pretend kitchen and play house and practice stairs that were normally found in a rehab facility At the center was a large plastic table where a teacher could spell out words using brail and the students could all touch it. There was no desks, no pictures on walls. All the children, some of them holding white canes, were sitting quietly as the teacher read them a story.

"Now the duck, show me what the duck is, I forgot!" she suddenly exclaimed.

All the kids giggled and jumped as they flipped through their own books and promptly showed her the symbol for the duck.  
"Very good! Oh, what smart kids we have!" the teacher pronounced.

"Arthur?" Ariadne whispered to him as she was suddenly realizing what this place was.  
"Daniel!" Dominic screamed. "Mamma is here!"

All the children jumped and turned to the child making the noise.

Ariadne gasped at seeing their zombie like stares. Their eyes open, but picking up nothing.

One little boy with curly black hair stood slowly up, carefully maneuvered around the other students and used his white walking stick to come to them.  
"Not supposed to yell, Dom!" the blind child scolded his brother.

"Mamma's here!" Dominic said again as the teacher went back to the story.  
"I'm sorry, Madam Lowe." Arthur apologized to the teacher who had to stop reading at the rude interruption.

She nodded as Dominic embraced his brother.

Daniel pulled away from Dominic and looked vacantly in Ariadne's direction.

"Mamma?" he called out softly. His hands reaching out for her hopefully. The child stepped towards her and she instinctively stepped back.  
"Daniel, how was school?" Arthur said as he grasped Daniel's hand.  
"Mamma?" the little blind child called again.  
"She's right here." Dominic said putting Ariadne's hand in Daniel's.

The blind child smiled as Ariadne looked at his eyes. They were not the warm brown of Arthur's or the dark brown of hers and Drew's. Instead, they were a creepy gray that meant the child could not see. Ariadne wanted to pull away from this strange child and couldn't.

"I missed you mamma!" Daniel said with a smile and kissed her hand.

~ Her youngest son was able to maneuver out of the school easily.

"Careful, Daniel." Ariadne called worriedly as he used his stick to walk down a few steps without slowing down.

"He's alright." Arthur assured her. "He's very advanced."

She couldn't even look at Arthur right now. How could he not tell her? She watched as her sons chatted happily. Daniel stopped for a drink from the water fountain, and lead the way out of the building.  
"Mamma, hold my hand please." Daniel said as they reached the parking lot.

"Alright." she said as her blind son heroically took her hand in his again.

Daniel didn't need help getting to the car or buckling in. He was calm and collected where Dominic was rambunctious and loud.

"Mamma, I'm glad you're alright." Daniel said.

"I..." Ariadne said as she looked at the oddly well mannered little boy. "I'm alright." she said as Arthur drove them home.

~ "Why didn't you tell me?" Ariadne hissed at Arthur when the boys had retreated to play in their room. Drew was put down for another nap and they were alone.  
"About Daniel?" Arthur asked innocently.  
"No, about the art classes. Of course about Daniel!" she hissed threateningly.

"Don't yell. We don't want the kids to hear." Arthur told her.

He shifted on his feet and finally met her eyes.  
"Honestly? I was hoping the shock would help jog your memory." he admitted.

"Well, it was a shock." she growled at him.

She thought about the handsome, congenial little boy. The fact she felt sick at the idea of him being blind caused a horrible self loathing in her.

"What happened?" she asked feeling frantic.  
"Nothing happened. This is just how he was born." Arthur assured her.

"What, did I smoke while I was pregnant? Did I drink? What caused it?" she demanded.

"Nothing caused it. You took care of yourself the whole time. You ate right and didn't drink or smoke. We've had this conversation a thousand times, trying to figure out where the blame lies with his blindness. But we accepted it and he is going to be fine. He is in the best school for the blind in the country. He is doing very well and is even starting to read. Dominic can't even read words yet." Arthur insisted.

Ariadne shook her head. Her heart unable to take the idea of that sweet boy being blind. She gave a long sob at the unfairness of it all.  
"Ariadne, you were like this when he was first born. You blamed yourself, me, everyone. You felt like you had to protect him for the rest of his life. But, listen, he's alright. You saw him, he walks around that school like he owns the place. He goes on class field trips and he does very well. They want to put him in an advanced class next year. My dad is teaching him to play piano and we were going to introduce him to more musical instruments. Daniel is fine, I promise.

"You should have told me, Arthur." she said bitterly. "This is just one more thing you kept from me!"


	13. Chapter 13

13.

~ Ariadne couldn't complain too much about Daniel. He was a charming, sweet little boy who played with his brother and who maneuvered through the family home with ease.  
"He does really well." Ariadne whispered to Arthur as they made dinner together.

Somewhere in her mind, she remembered how to cook. The skill coming back to her just like her computer programs.

"Yes, he does." Arthur said politely.

The two of them had been overly nice to each other since their fight. They didn't want to fight in front of the kids, or upset them in any way. They left things raw and bleeding between them.

"So, I need to know exactly where all this money of ours came from." Ariadne told him as she put a casserole in the oven.  
Arthur shifted uncomfortably.  
"Well, you work at designing video games. They pay you pretty well." Arthur offered.  
"Not well enough to supply this house and all those designer clothes. What is it you do?" she asked.  
"I told you, I work in information retrieval for corporations." he said not looking at her.

"What is that exactly?" she asked.  
"It's complicated."

"I'm smart, try me." she insisted.

"I'll bring you to my work tomorrow. How does that sound?" he offered. "You can meet Cobb and Eames.

"I would like to meet Eames." Ariadne agreed. "So all our money came from your work?"

"Not all of it. I bought this house before we were married."

"Am I a trophy wife?" she asked.

Arthur snorted back a laugh.

"Well, am I?" she asked feeling her lips itch into a smile as well.

"Sure, why not?" he said.

"Just... you're a rich guy." she said feeling stupid.  
"I told you the man I thought was my father died after we were married. Well, he had a large company that I inherited. The company wasn't doing very well, and you and the two kids moved to New York with me and we managed to make it profitable again." he explained.  
"Wow." she said. "That's... that's good."

Arthur smiled sadly.

"New York, that's where Daniel was born." she said remembering what he had told her.  
"Yes, it was a hard year." he told her.

"Why?"

"We had a lot thrown at us that year. I had to lay off staff. There were complications from that." Arthur looked angry for a second. "Then Daniel was born and we hardly did anything but worry about him. Then we had to sell some assets to get the company out of the red. But we merged with our friend Mr. Saito, and things took off. We moved back home to Paris and here we are."

"So you still own the company?" she asked.

"Technically, I'm a trustee. Darcy will inherit when she is twenty one. She's the rightful blood heir. I'm just managing it for her till she's old enough. The money was more trouble then it was worth." he told her.

"Corrine, was after money." she said faintly. She suddenly remembered that. Remembered a pretty woman with white teeth a fake breasts.

Arthur looked surprised.

"You remember Corrine?" he asked worriedly.  
"Did she wear my necklace? The diamond one?" Ariadne asked. Her memory of the woman suddenly very sharp. "And she was in our bedroom naked and... you were with her." she accused.

"Yes, but... I never-"

"No, I know you didn't." Ariadne interrupted. "We caught her. You and I." she said remembering the shocked look of the nanny.

Arthur let out a sigh of relief.  
"Yes, she was trying to seduce me. She was after money, not me, and I told you. We caught her in the act and sent her packing." Arthur summed up.

Ariadne took the casserole out of the oven.

"No, she wasn't _just_ after money, Arthur." Ariadne told him as she set the table and called the kids to dinner.

~ Ariadne wasn't used to such a crowded dinner table. The boys complained loudly of missing Darcy, and she barely had time to feed herself as she tried to feed Drew.

"Daniel? Can you eat alright?" she asked the blind boy.  
"Yes." he said as he carefully placed mashed potato on his fork with impeccable table manners.  
"Wow, they do a good job at that school." Ariadne said impressed as Drew banged her fist on the high chair, demanding another bite.

"They should, as much as it costs." Arthur huffed. This was apparently a big joke to the family because the boys started laughing hysterically.

~ "Are you coming to bed?" Arthur asked after he had finished giving the boys a bath and Drew had been put down.

Ariadne was watching her cherub like baby sleep.

"Yes, after a while." she told him.

"I know today was hard, but you're already getting some of your memories back." he told her.

"I know. I'll be there after a while." she told him.

"Maybe we can fool around? I can run a bath for us." he offered.

She looked up at him.  
"I'll be there soon enough, Arthur." she told him curtly.

Arthur sighed and went back to their master bedroom.

Ariadne kissed her sleeping baby and went to check on the boys.

Dominic was out like a light. His energy for the day spent and his legs and arms were poking out of his blanket. Ariadne covered him more securely and kissed his freshly washed hair.

"Mamma?" came a voice.

Ariadne turned to see Daniel was awake. The little boy playing with some kind of puzzle box in the dark.  
"What are you doing with the lights off?" Ariadne whispered. For a second she worried about his eyes, only belatedly realizing he couldn't see anyway.  
"I don't need lights, mamma." The little boy laughed.  
She came by his bed side and gently took the puzzle box away.  
"You need to sleep." she told him.  
"Mamma, are you worried about me?" he asked.

Ariadne bit her lip.  
"I was, but I'm not anymore." she said feeling like she wanted to cry.  
"Don't be. I'm okay." he told her.  
"I know you are, sweetheart." she bent over and whispered into his ear. "I was so proud of you today. They way you walked to the car on your own and how good you've done in school." she confessed.

Daniel smiled.

"I know you're proud of me." he said and held her hand. "Are you sure you're okay? I've been scared for you."

"Go to sleep, I'll be fine." she ordered as she kissed his forehead. She knew it was wrong to like one of her children more, but at that moment, she had never loved anything as sharply as she loved Daniel.

Ariadne slipped out of the boys room and down the hall to where she knew Arthur's office was. She listened at the door to make sure he wasn't in it and slipped inside.

Like everything else about her husband, the office was elegantly decorated. The desk was an antique, the chairs were leather, and the whole office was very masculine in an appealing way.

She pulled out the little key she had stolen from Arthur and opened the file cabinet.

After all the lies and half truths. She had to know, had to know everything.

Arthur was meticulous about the details of his life. He organized savings accounts, tax returns and even saved receipts for their decorators. Ariadne had to stop and count the zeros in their off shore checking accounts to make sure it was right. She shook her head and decided his father's company was worth an insane amount of money. From those bank statements, they could live anywhere in the world. She looked over the bills from Daniel's school and saw it was very expensive, but also that Arthur had donated a large sum of money for a music program.

Maybe that was the inside joke he and the boys had laughed at.

She looked over the company profile and the doctor reports about Daniel. Arthur was researching a transplant surgery as soon as the little boy was old enough.

She found the documents from their time in New York. All of them exactly like he had said. She wasn't used to the techno babel of the business world, but all of it corresponded to what he had told her before.

She almost missed a thin, folder in red. It's tab marked **_Stacy, NYPD_**.

She felt her curiosity rouse as she opened it. It was a detailed police report made out over three years ago against Arthur. The alleged victim's name was Stacy and she accused Arthur of rape.

Ariadne felt light headed. Her world spinning as she read. Arthur had been called in for questioning about the alleged rape. She looked over a series of pointless emails between Arthur and some lawyer named McClain, and saw the photo copied receipt of a cashed check for $100,000. The check was from Arthur, to this Stacy woman.

He had paid her off. Paid her to drop the charges. She realized she was breathing hard as a memory found her. A dark, deeply buried memory.

Arthur was forcing her onto the bed. His hand around her neck; forcing her legs apart. Calling her a whore as he punched her face till she was sure her nose broke.

He was hitting her! Arthur was hitting her as he pulled her panties down and raped her. He called her horrible names as he choked her and spat on her.

He raped her and left her crying on her bed.

"Oh God." Ariadne whispered as she realized she had married a rapist.


	14. Chapter 14

14.

~ Drew was sleeping peacefully as Ariadne called Sadie to come pick her up. She would have gotten a cab, but she would have had to go into the bedroom to collect her purse and Arthur would be there. He would most likely be waiting for her to be with him again. If she refused, he might just take what he wanted anyway.

What a fool she was. She always said she would never be in a an abusive relationship with a man and now she was married to a man who hurt her. She put the police reports from New York in the baby's diaper bag and gently lifted Drew into a carrier.  
"Hello?" Sadie's voice came over her cell phone.

"Sadie?" Ariadne hissed into the phone. "Sadie, come and get me. I don't have money for a cab and I have the kids with me."

"What's going on?" the spider woman asked.

"Arthur, I found out things about him. Please, just come and get me."

"Ariadne, calm down. What is it you think you fond out?" Sadie asked.  
"I'll tell you when you come and get me. I'll have the kids with me, please hurry." Ariadne whispered as she slipped into the boys room.  
"Daniel?" she whispered to her youngest son. The blind little boy woke up and stared vacantly at his mother.

"Mamma? What's wrong?" he asked. His senses telling him something wasn't right.  
"Daniel, get dressed. We have to go somewhere." she told him as she roused Dominic. The oldest was half asleep as she helped him to dress. Her nerves on end as she wondered what kind of a nightmare life she had had with Arthur.

Maybe she had the car accident as a way to escape. Was she trying to commit suicide? Sadie suspected he used her as a baby machine. Maybe she was right.

She told the boys to be quite as they crept out of the apartment.  
"Isn't papa coming with us?" Daniel asked.  
"No, he's already there." Ariadne promised as she unlocked the front door and quickly ushered the kids into the hallway.  
"Why do we have to be quite?" Dominic asked.

"Just do as I say." Ariadne told him. "It's important."

"The boys held hands as they reached the lobby. A kindly little doorman was there and he seemed confused to find her and the children coming off the elevator.

"Madam?" he questioned.  
"Everything's fine." Ariadne said trying to sound breezy and in control.

Sadie was waiting by a big black luxury car out in front.  
"What happened to the yellow car?" Ariadne asked as the boys piled into the back seat.  
"I sold it, like, four years ago." Sadie told her as they buckled the baby in. "What's going on?"

"I'll tell you when were some place safe." Ariadne whispered as the spider woman drove them away.

~ Arthur almost nodded off a few times waiting for his wife to come to bed. He had read his book, watched the evening news and was now feeling angry Ariadne had not arrived.

He threw off his bedding and stormed into the living room. The apartment was sullen and empty. No sounds were present at all.

"Ariadne?" he called out.

He wandered down the children's hallway and peeped into Drew's room. Something wasn't right. He stepped closer to her crib and saw the baby wasn't there.

Panicked now, he rushed into the boy's room. Their beds were likewise empty.

"Ariadne!" Arthur called to the hallowed out apartment. He ran down the hall, looking in closets and any place the boys might have hidden themselves or their sister. Part of him hoped it was a joke Dominic had concocted. He hoped Drew would start crying and alert him to where they were.

"ARIADNE!" he shouted now as the quite in the apartment was about to drive him insane. He ran to the servants hall. The place where he kept his office and the two guest rooms for when Edwina and his father came to visit.

He forced open the door to the two guest rooms and checked the closets. He even looked under the beds.  
He kept the office for last. His boys knew better then to go into his office. The office was off limits to them, just like the balcony and stove.

Still, there was no other place they could be.

"Ari-" Arthur called out as he opened his office door.

His normally well tended office was a mess of papers and documents from his file cabinets. He was breathing hard as he carefully stepped into the office and saw papers from his father's company, documents from Daniel's school.

His eyes went to the lock on the cabinet. There was the key he normally always kept on him, still in the lock.

~ "No, Arthur, she hasn't called me." Sadie said lazily as Ariadne looked worriedly at her friend.

As soon as they reached the old apartment, Sadie's phone went off. Arthur was frantic to find out what happened to his wife and children.

"Sadie, I know she's with you. There are only so many people she remembers." Arthur snarled.

"No, she's not here. You ripped me from my beauty sleep so, unless you want to come over for a little kinky sexy time, don't call me again." Sadie scolded as she found a half full bottle of red wine.

"She's at the old apartment isn't she? She's in the room with you?" Arthur asked.

Sadie glanced at Ariadne who couldn't hear.  
"Yes." Sadie said casually.  
"I'm coming over."

"Excellent, I'll put on the naughty movie. I'll give you a good spanking, bad boy!" Sadie teased.  
"Are the kids with you? Are they okay?"

"Oh yes. Very safe." the spider woman said as Ariadne was still in ear shot.

Arthur sighed over the phone.  
"Fine, I won't come over, just..." Arthur didn't seem to know what to say.  
"If Ariadne calls me, I'll call you." Sadie offered.  
"Fine." Arthur grumbled and hung up.

Ariadne looked at the boys sleeping in the guest room. Drew was sleeping peacefully in her car seat as Sadie poured them some wine.

"Eames is in London until tomorrow." the spider woman said as she handed Ariadne a glass.

"I used to live here. John and I, then Arthur and I." Ariadne said looking over the small living room and kitchen. The bedroom with a nice walk in closet.

"Yes. When you moved in with Arthur, you upgraded." Sadie explained. "You sort of let me squat here. We tell Arthur I pay rent, but I never do." Sadie said as she lit a cigarette.

"Sadie, I found police reports, from New York, about Arthur." Ariadne said as she almost gulped down her wine.

She wanted to get drunk. Needed to get drunk.

"What about?" Sadie asked.

Ariadne went into the diaper bag and handed her the paperwork.

"Arthur was taken in for questioning about this woman Stacy. She accused him of raping her. _Then_ he gave her a check of over $100,000!" Ariadne cried.  
"Calm down." Sadie said. "It says here Stacy was an disgruntled employee and the police dropped the charges due to a lack of evidence."

"That's not just it, Sadie." Ariadne cried helplessly. He fished into her purse and retrieved another document. "Before Drew was born, the police came to the apartment to investigate a claim of spousal abuse. They found me locked in the bathroom with the boys and I had a black eye. I was crying and very upset. I spent the night in the hospital."

"Ariadne." Sadie said with a sigh. "I can explain that."

"Then explain it!" Ariadne demanded.

Sadie looked overwhelmed for a second.

"Well, it's hard to explain." the spider woman admitted.

"Sadie, that's not all. I _remember _Arthur raping me. _I remember it_!" Ariadne cried softly.

"Okay, I know you think you remember that. But I promise you that wasn't real." Sadie told her calmly.

"It was real!" Ariadne almost cried. "I know it was real! He punched me in the face and broke my nose! He called me horrible names!"

"Alright, then what happened? Did you call the police? Tell me what happened next." Sadie demanded sharply.

Ariadne had to calm down. Slow her breathing.  
"I... I went into the bathroom. I... something with my bracelet. My bracelet said the wrong thing." Ariadne said trying to remember.  
"Then what happened?" Sadie demanded.

"I... I looked out into the living room. I saw... then I was running upstairs and I..." she remembered now. "That can't be right. I jumped off this building." she told her friend.  
"It was a dream. I promise you it was just a dream." Sadie assured her.

"No!" Ariadne protested. "No, it wasn't a dream. It was too real."

"Your nose is the same as it ever was. How could you survive a jump off this building?" Sadie asked calmly.  
"Fine, but what about the police reports?" Ariadne insisted.

"Arthur paid that woman off because he didn't want the wrong people investigating too much into his work." Sadie explained casually.  
"What do you mean?" Ariadne asked.

"I mean..." Sadie seemed to realize she had let too much out. "Arthur didn't tell you about his work?"

"He told me he worked in information retrieval." Ariadne told her.

"Good term for it." Sadie said with a shrug.

"Sadie, I'm scared for my children. I don't know what kind of man I'm married to. I find police reports all saying he is some kind of criminal. He won't talk to me about his work, and you're the only one I can trust." Ariadne cried.

"You're not an abused wife." Sadie said slowly. "I know that for sure."

"How do you know?" Ariadne asked.  
"Because, everything you have uncovered is explainable. It's just very, very complicated, and I'm not the one to explain it." Sadie told her.


	15. Chapter 15

15.

~ Ariadne felt safe here. This was how Paris was _supposed_ to be. No tourists, no crowds. No invasion of tacky discount stores that sold cheap electronics with garish lights. No loud honking from traffic or construction.

Instead, she was sitting in a charming cafe where the waiters had clean, neatly ironed aprons. She saw a beautiful flower market across the street she might go visit later. It was always nice to buy yourself flowers.

There was a brightly painted bakery that made pies and cakes as well. She would _have to_ go there to. She could live off fresh bread by the smell of it. Fresh bread was all she wanted right now.

Also, there was a book store that sold new and used books. Her feet itched to jump out of her seat get lost in the shelves. Maybe see if they had a nice copy of "Woman on the Edge of Time".

She hadn't read that in years.

'_Wait, I just read that._' she thought. And took a sip of coffee.

She watched a charming little man ride his bike past her and bid her good morning. Almost no cars whizzed past the cobbled streets. People were walking, but not too many.

She let out a long sigh.

Yes, this was how Paris should always be. Shops that sold books and flowers and bread. People on bicycles. Endless coffee and chocolate, and no worries at all.

"May I join you?" came a man's voice.

Ariadne nodded absentmindedly. She didn't mind company right now. This man appeared off the streets and came to her little table as if they had an arranged meeting.

She looked up at the man and a cord of remembering rang out in her mind.

"I know you." she said as the waiter brought them another cup of espresso. The coffee was so good here, it was worth the day of jitters from drinking too much.

"Yes, my name is Cobb." the man said as he placed his newspaper down on the clean table cloth.

Ariadne nodded.

She remembered this man. His neatly combed blond hair was starting to be peppered with gray. His eyes were a shinning bright blue that still looked haunted.

'_Mal. Does Mal still come to him?_' she wondered.

"Are you looking for your wife?" Ariadne asked as she noticed the smooth wedding band on his finger.

Cobb looked at it.

"I lately remarried. I thought I never would remarry. Isn't it funny how I always have a wedding band on when I'm here? I guess I'm a man who is meant to be someones husband." he laughed.

She smiled as well and looked at her own hand.

No wedding ring. No sapphire engagement ring. No silver bracelet.

'_I never take those off_.' Ariadne thought.

"I think... I think I'm married to." she said thoughtfully.

"I'm sure you are. You look like the kind of girl a man would snap up." Cobb laughed. "What's your husband's name?"

"Arthur." she told him without thinking. She looked at Cobb. "You introduced me to him."

She was almost accusing this Cobb person of something as she looked him over.

She knew this man! Had known him for years. He had children, children from his first wife and his new wife.

"Mal." she whispered without thinking. "You had a wife named Mal."

"I did. She passed away some time ago." Cobb said sadly.

"Did I know her?" Ariadne asked. Memories of a woman, a woman on theses very streets... she couldn't make the pieces fit.

"You knew her in a way." Cobb explained elusively. "Because here, in this place, there are no limitations. You can make this world anything you want. You can build castles and palaces that could never be real."

His voice was low and almost conspiratorial.

"What do you mean?" she asked not following.

"Look around you. When has anything been this picturesque? This perfect?" he asked.

She looked around the street. The flower market, the bakery, the book shop.

"Never." she whispered.

The absence of flaws to the setting was suddenly disturbing.

"What if I told you, you could create a world that others could go into? That world would be populated and built to any design you wanted." Cobb asked.

"Like on a computer?" she asked.

"No, a world that others could become a part of. One that felt absolutely real." Cobb said encouragingly.

"I would never be able to create enough detail to make them think it was real." Ariadne said. Her intellect raised.

"In this world, everything feels real. Doesn't it?" Cobb asked.

Ariadne looked at the clean table cloth. Her hands feeling the fabric of it. Her teeth and tongue still had the flavor of the coffee on them. Her nose still picking up the smell of the bakery.

She looked at Cobb and was suddenly breathing hard.  
"What world is this?" she asked.

"It's your go to place." Cobb told her. "It's the place you always start at when you design dreams for us. It's where you feel safe and where you can start your work."

"My work?" she repeated.

He nodded and looked out onto the streets.  
"I think this place could use a fruit and vegetable stand. Don't you?" he asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

She was nodding and her mind brought fourth images of a large stand that sold farm fresh tomatoes and eggs. An irate shop owner warning kids away from stealing from him.

"Yes." she said at last.

Cobb looked out onto the street and she followed his gaze.

A store front was across from them; abandoned and empty; dead space.

'_No, a fruit and vegetable stand goes there._' she thought and felt a shift happen.

A soft rumble that caused the peeling paint to strip away and the inside of the store to light up. Hurried shouting from the owner as he and a worker put out a large wooden stand and stared loading it up with fruit and vegetables. A sign marked 'Fresh Eggs Inside' was placed on the window as pedestrians stopped and looked over the sudden richness of greenery.

"How?" she asked and turned to Cobb. "Did _you_ do that?"

Cobb shook his head.

"It's not my dream, Ariadne."

"We're dreaming?" she asked in disbelief. A happy feeling glowing inside her.

She looked at Cobb for a long time.  
"We've been here before. Doing this same thing. Having this same conversation." she remembered.

"Yes, then you made the cafe explode. I have to ask you not do that again. All that glass was painful." he told her.

As he said it, Ariadne's coffee cup was shaking.  
"Calm down, and stay with me. You're safe. Stay in this dream." he whispered.

She wanted to stay here. Wanted to keep talking to Cobb. She didn't want to leave the dream.

Then, just like that, the coffee cup stopped shaking and she was still there.

"Where am I really?" she asked.

"Let's not worry about that; it will ruin the illusion of the dream. Let's just say for now you're safe here and in the real world." Cobb told her.

"Are you real?" she asked.  
"Very." Cobb laughed.

"We do this a lot?" she asked.

"Not as much anymore. In fact we think the reason your memory is so cloudy is because of the compound we use to dream together." he told her as the waiters brought them more coffee.

"That's right I lost my memory." she told him.

She looked at her coffee doubtfully.

"You can drink as much as you want. It's a dream, nothing bad will happen. I think you come here for the coffee and bread." he teased.

She smiled and took another sip.

"Why does it feel so real?" she asked him as the comforting drink made her happy.

"Dreams always feel real when were in them. That's why they are so terrifying sometimes." he told her.

She felt he was looking at her. Observing her.

"Have you ever had a dream so real, so horrible, you woke up and were thankful it was just a dream?"

Immediately she thought of Arthur raping her. How some of it didn't make sense.  
"I-" she lost her courage and shut her mouth again. "I told you, I don't remember."

Cobb nodded.

"So we do this? We dream together? Why?" she asked after a while.  
"We go into other people's minds using a special device." he told her.

"In a silver brief case?" she asked.

Cobb nodded. A little smile on his lips.

"Why?" she asked.  
"When you're asleep, your defenses are down. You don't guard your secrets as well as you do when you're awake." he told her.

She had to think about that for a moment.  
"We steal people's secrets?" she asked him.

He nodded.

"We drug them, go into their dreams and find out information." she said.

A part of her knew all this.

'_A plane, we were on a plane and there were many of us. It was dangerous, I was worried, Arthur was there, Cobb was there... I was safe because I trusted Arthur._' she thought as a dizzying memory came back to her suddenly.

"Arthur does this with us." she said at last. "That's what he meant by information retrieval. This is how we met!" she cried out as he coffee cup started to shake uncontrollably.

**~ OK, someone left me a review saying that I am raciest against Asians because in the story "Beautiful" I mentioned how much I hate Aggie drivers. ****AGGIE****, is what we call people who go to Texas A&M. It is not a term to demean Asians, just people who go to A&M. **

** Aggie drivers ARE bad drivers and they know it. They are however VERY, VERY smart. Even though we teasingly call them dumb Aggies. **

** I just wanted to get that out, so no one will think it was racist to use the term Aggies. I realize that not everyone knows the lingo from where I am.**


	16. Chapter 16

16.

~ "Stay calm." Cobb ordered as the coffee cup broke and spilled the dark liquid over the white table cloth.

She tried to stay calm. Tried to stay with him in this perfect world of coffee, fresh bread and books.

'_Stay here, just stay here._' she thought closing her eyes till the shaking stopped.  
"Ariadne?" Cobb asked.

She snapped open her eyes and looked at him.

His hand was on her arm and he was looking concerned.

"I'm... I'm alright." she said letting out a long breath.

She felt something was wrong. Felt that things had changed in the way you know you're dreaming, but don't want the dream to end.

They we're no longer at the cafe, but on the street; walking.

"What happened to the cafe?" she asked.

"Lucid dreaming, when you know you're dreaming and the dream changes because of it." Cobb told her.

They walked the vintage style streets for a little while.

"Don't worry, your cafe is still there. We can go back to it if you want." he told her.

"No, I want to see more." she told him as she marched ahead of him.

Like magic, the city streets changed to her will. They bended and morphed like an Escher drawing. All the people seeming oblivious to the strange world they now inhabited.

"Don't change too much." Cobb warned.  
"Why?" she asked as a woman aggressively bumped into her.

"The people are projections of my sub contentious. They attack the dreamer, which is you. I can't control it." he told her as all the people were now looking at them with disgust.  
"This is how I met Arthur. Is he here? In the dream with us?" she asked.

"No, as far as I know he's at home." Cobb told her as she made a wall spring up behind them. Sealing them off from the people.

"I don't remember things about our life together. Some of the things I do remember... are very confusing." Ariadne told him.

"Like the rape?" Cobb said gently.

She avoided his look.

"Do you remember Mr. Eames at all?" Cobb asked as they kept walking.

"Sadie's husband. Arthur doesn't like him." Ariadne told him.

"Yes. Mr. Eames does this work with us. He's a forger." Cobb explained. "In the dream, he can make himself look like anyone."

"Neat trick to have in this line of work." Ariadne mused as they wandered into a picture postcard setting of flower markets and venders. The projections were still glaring at them.

"Yes, he isn't the only one who can do that trick." Cobb said.

Ariadne turned to him.

"What are you saying?" she asked.

Cobb looked worried.

"Before you and Arthur got married, you were kidnapped by a rival team. They wanted information from you and went into your dreams to get it. They forged themselves as people you trusted, us, and tried to get the information that way." he explained. "One of them, made himself look like Arthur, and he..."

Ariadne looked away from Cobb.

"It's true. That's why your remember it, but can't explain how you survived jumping off your building. You were dreaming and that's how you woke yourself up." Cobb insisted as they kept walking.

"Lets say I believe that; which I'm not saying I do." Ariadne told him as the passed the market to an more secluded street. "I found police reports. I had a black eye and they found me locked in a bathroom. Fearing for my life." Ariadne whispered.  
"That's because Arthur tried to perform an inception on you."

"What?" she asked.

"He tired to plant an idea in your mind. Namely to have another baby." Cobb told her.

"Drew." she said thinking of the cherub like little girl.

"Yes." Cobb said. "He took you into a dream and went into your mind. He accidentally unlocked things in your mind, in your memories, that you had kept buried."

"What things?" Ariadne said with a forced laugh.  
"Sammy." Cobb told her.

She felt her blood run cold.

"How Sammy died. How you lived with your parents. All of those memories, which you put behind you, suddenly came back. You started behaving manically. You were hoarding food, afraid of everything. The same thing happened when I-"

"When you tried to plant an idea in Mal's mind." Ariadne finished for him. "That's how she died. The inception drove her insane."

Cobb nodded.

She let out a long breath.  
"Am I alright now?" she asked.

"Yes, once you realized it was dream, you could let it go. The rape wasn't real, and you were able to come back from the failed inception. It's why you and Arthur separated. You were angry for a long time." he explained.  
"I'll bet I was." Ariadne told him bitterly.

She looked out over their impressive, but impossible, view of the city.

"The men that kidnapped me. I killed one. I bashed his face in with the device." she told Cobb.  
"Yes, but don't worry. The police arrested the others for it. You only testified to them kidnapping you. It was all very easy." Cobb told her.  
She let out a long sigh.

"Arthur's a good man, Ariadne. That's why you're with him. You know you're too smart to be married to man who would hurt you." Cobb said.

"I know he's a good man." she whispered.

They said nothing as they watched the sunset.  
"Cobb, I remember someone holding me underwater in a bathtub. It involved Arthur. Was that just a dream?" she asked.

Cobb sighed.  
"No, that was Darcy's real mother Becky. She used to date Arthur and wanted him back. She tried to kill you so that she could take your place." Cobb told her.  
"Oh, God!" Ariadne whispered. "That was _real_?"

"I'm sorry to say it was, yes." Cobb said.

"She tried to kill me." Ariadne repeated.

"But she's in prison now. Being treated for a mental illness." Cobb told her. "The nanny manged to save you before you drowned."  
"How can I take care of Darcy, knowing that her mother dated my husband is wants me dead?" Ariadne told him.  
"You do. You love Darcy like she was your own. She calls you Mama and Arthur Papa. You've had her since she was five years old." Cobb told her.

Somewhere, in the distance, music was playing. A slow steady song with horns and a singers low voice stretched out across the city and reached them.  
"What is it?" Ariadne asked.

"We turn back into pumpkins, Cinderella." Cobb said.

~ Sadie was the first thing Ariadne saw when she opened her eyes.

"Wake up, stupid." The spider woman called and then smiled.

Ariadne was breathing hard as she tried to remember where she was. She wasn't in the lush, comfortable bed she shared with Arthur. She was propped up on Sadie's couch next to Cobb. A strange device was hissing beside her as she took in a white line on her wrist.

"We come out of the dream to music." Ariadne said numbly.  
"Usually." Cobb told her. "It's one of the ways we use to keep us in the dream."

"Are you alright?" Sadie asked as Ariadne sat up.  
"I'm fine. Are the kids okay?" Ariadne asked.

"They're sleeping." the spider woman said as she stood on her stork like legs and went into the kitchen.

"So, Stacy wasn't a victim. She was a disgruntled employee who Arthur fired. He paid her off because if the police searched into our lives too much, they would have discovered what we do. They would have found out about our dreams." she said feeling exhausted.

"Exactly." Cobb said. "What about Arthur raping you?" he asked.

"That was just a dream. I was kidnapped, they took me into their dreams, one of them forged himself as Arthur... he was the one who raped me." Ariadne said sadly.

"How did you wake up?" Cobb asked gently.  
"I saw the engraving on my bracelet was wrong, and I... I jumped off the building. You wake up by killing yourself." she said sadly.

"Do you believe Arthur would hurt you?" Cobb asked.  
"No, I know he would never hurt me." She said as she brushed back a few tears.  
"Do you want to call Arthur now?" he asked.


	17. Chapter 17

17.

~ The Point Man stayed awake waiting for Ariadne to call him.

He was surprised at how reserved he had been at allowing his wife and children to remain at the spider woman's home. He had organized the files back where they were supposed to go and discovered a few were missing. The police report from New York and the police report from Paris shortly after his failed inception.

She must have guessed the rest and feared for the children. No explanation in the world would make her feel safe again.

He wasn't surprised when his cell phone went off an hour later.  
"Arthur?" her sweet voice came out over the line.  
"Are you alright?" he asked humbly.

"I'm fine." she said. It was clear she had been crying.

"Are the kids alright?" he asked.  
"Yes, they're sleeping."  
"That's good." he said in a dead tone.

"I met Cobb." Ariadne offered.

"That's good."

"Yes, he took me into a dream. Explained about our work." she told him.

"He_ is_ better at explaining things than I am." Arthur offered.

"Yes. Yes, he is." Ariadne laughed.

"What did you two dream about?" he asked conversationally.

"Um, we went to my... I guess it's my safe place." she told him.

"Oh, yeah, that's a nice place." he told her.

Their conversation was dry and starting to feel like small talk.  
"I... I saw you went into the file cabinet." he said at last.

"Yes." she said sadly. "I did."

"You saw some things that I need to explain."

"I understand them. I didn't at first, and I was afraid." she told him.

"I'm sure you were. Is that why you left?" he asked.  
"Yes." she said.

"Is it alright if I come over and we can talk?" he asked.

~ Arthur hadn't been back at Ariadne old apartment since they moved out. It felt strange coming back to this place he had shared with her before they were married. Before their children, before everything became so complicated.

He was wondering why his life couldn't be more simple, when his wife answered the door.  
~ "Hi." she said meekly.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"Sure." she said and stood aside. "Sadie is asleep already, the kids are in the guest room."  
"Where's Cobb?" he asked politely.

"He went home." she told him.

"Oh." he said as they wandered into the kitchen.  
"Do you want some tea?" she asked.

"Sure." he said, even though he didn't.

They said nothing as the kettle came to a boil.

They said nothing as she poured the hot water into two mugs.

They said nothing as they each took tentative sips of their drinks.  
"I'm sorry, Arthur." she said at last.  
"I'm sorry to. I should have been honest with you right from the start." he said.

"No, you were right. It would have been too much to take in." she admitted.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he offered.

She shrugged.  
"I read about Stacy accusing you of raping her. That she was an ex employee. I think I even remember her; something about a ladies room in New York. Cobb explained that we paid her off because we didn't want the police to investigate our work in dreams." she said sadly. "He... he also explained that I was kidnapped. That I was taken into a dreams and... one... of.."

"I know." he said. Not wanting her to finish. "Did you think I raped you? Is that why you left and took the kids?"

"Yes." she said automatically. "I remembered the dream, and I didn't know what to think." she said trying not to cry. "I didn't know who you were."

Arthur was by her side as she started to cry.

"I'm sorry." she wept. "Arthur, I'm so sorry."

"I know, I'm sorry to." he whispered. "I should have been honest."

"No, how could you have explained everything? I never would have believed it." she sobbed. "I mean, how could you have explained it?"

Arthur was holding her as they left their tea forgotten and ignored.

"Do you want to come home now?" he whispered.

~ Slowly, like fitting pieces into a puzzle with no picture to guide her, she remembered things. She finally remembered about Becky, but couldn't see her face.  
"It's best not to think about that." Arthur warned as they went to pick Darcy up a week later.

"What if it never comes back, Arthur?" she asked worriedly. "I don't remember being pregnant with the boys or Drew at all. How can I be a good mother to them? I can't even remember this Darcy girl at all."

"You will. You'll remember." Arthur said as he fought the traffic.

"What if I don't?" she said feeling panicked about meeting this little girl. The memory of Becky holding her under the bathtub water made her shiver. How could she love a child who came from a woman like that?

"If you don't, then, well just make new memories." he told her at last.

She shook her head.  
"Look, you're remembering things all the time. Something reminds you, and you remember it. Over time, it will all come back to you." he said.

Arthur was reassuring, but Ariadne didn't buy it.

~ The airport was busy as they waited at the gates for this mysterious Darcy person to arrive.

"How will I know her? What should I say?" Ariadne asked.

Arthur smiled.  
"Knowing Darcy, she'll do most of the talking. She was at a dance academy for three months, I'm sure you won't be able to get a word in edgewise." he told her as she felt those marvelous hands close over hers.

"What if I don't remember her? What if I _never _remember her?" Ariadne asked as the passengers came off the plane.

Arthur nodded to the crowd.  
"That's her." he said simply.

Out of the masses of people, was a little girl with wild curly hair that had lighted from the sun.  
"Darcy!" Ariadne called out as she noticed the girl had tanned over the summer.  
"Mama!" Darcy sang out and ran to her.  
"Oh, I missed you!" Ariadne said as she hugged her daughter and breathed in the familiar smells of the child. Her fingers tripping over the golden curls she loved so much.  
"How was camp? Your hair has grown out so much!" Ariadne laughed.

Memories of how she and Arthur had to cut off all of Darcy's long, curly hair when she underwent cancer treatments flooded into her at the sight of all that hair. But the golden ringlets were growing back quickly and was almost to her shoulders now.

"So, much fun, mama!" Darcy said as Arthur took her bag and they left the airport. "My best friend there is named Carrie and my boyfriend's name is Rick and we promised to call everyday."

"Boyfriend, what boyfriend?" Arthur question.

Ariadne threw him a look. She noticed tiny stud earrings in the girls ear that weren't there before.  
"Darcy, when did you get your ears pierced?" Ariadne questioned. "They weren't like that before. We talked about this and we decided not till you were sixteen."

Darcy tired to look innocent.  
"We _all _got our ears pierced." the girl explained. "All the other girls have earrings!"  
"Darcy." Ariadne sighed. "You always do these things. You don't have any tattoos do you? No mean little skulls?"

"Not yet, M_other_." Darcy said with a teenage aloofness.  
"So much for not remembering." Arthur grumbled as Ariadne gave Darcy a lecture about getting too much sun and mutilating her body.

**~ Epilogue ~**

~ "Did you hear what she called me?" Ariadne huffed to her husband that night in bed. "She called me _mother_."

"So?" he laughed.

"So?" Ariadne cried. "Arthur, this means something! I stopped calling my mother 'Mamma' when I was a teenager. It's when we started fighting all the time and I was pushing them away. Darcy is too young to call me mother."

"I'm sure she'll be back to normal in a few weeks." Arthur grumbled as he looked over his emails.  
"Is it wrong to want that sweet little girl back? Remember when she first came here to live with us? She was so quite and scared all the time. It was so sweet how you would make her cereal in the morning."

"I am a good cook." Arthur said absentmindedly as he scanned his emails. His eyes catching something from his new lawyer.

"I'm not ready to be a mother to a teenager." Ariadne sighed. "I was a _horrible_ teenager. I drove my poor parents crazy and I don't want that to happen with Darcy."

"You turned out fine, so will Darcy. She has to make her own mistakes." Arthur consoled her.

Ariadne looked hatefully at her husband.

"And if she makes those mistakes with her new boyfriend? Boy trouble wasn't even on my agenda, Arthur. You were the first man I was with, remember?" she said.

Arthur wasn't listening. His wife's memories had come screaming back like a flood gate had been released and he wasn't sure if he should upset her.

"What is it?" Ariadne asked. Sensing something was deeply wrong.  
"It's an email from our lawyer. Becky has been released and she is suing us and for custody of Darcy." Arthur said.

**~ END ~**

**I KNOW! BAD ANGELOFTHEMORNING1978! **

**Oh well! (evil laughter)**

** I still want to hear your fan request. I love them!**

** I wanted to let my readers know that if you leave a comment without logging in, it goes in a as guest review and I have to approve it. That is why some of your reviews take so long to come up. Also, sign in because if you have questions, I can PM you and answer them there instead of posting in the story. **

** I love all of you guys, but I'd love it more if we could communicate better. **

******SPOLIER ALERT IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN TDKR! ******

** ****SPOLIER ALERT! ******

**I was reading online about JGL possibly playing the new batman in a Justice League of America movie. Any thoughts? Or is Christian Bale the only Batman for you?**

** Personally, I think he can do it, and do the cape and cowl well. SHOULD he, is another question entirely. Keep in mind Christopher Nolan is a producer on the new Superman movie and there is talk, RUMORS! JGL will make an Easter Egg appearance at the end of the credits as the new Dark Knight. **


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